The Table Was Crowded
by daenabenjen42
Summary: It was as simple and as complicated as being thrown together during a shuttle accident... (L/M, H/L, R/W)
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Table Was Crowded  
Characters: Luke and Mara  
Genre: romance/drama  
Timeframe: AU around the middle of Dark Force Rising  
Notes: How'd I get to here from "Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney had a hard life"? I'll never know... Enjoy.

* * *

The table was crowded, though there was only two of them. She couldn't look at him. Wouldn't look at him, because to look at him meant acceptance of the life that had been thrust upon them. So she continued to draw invisible circles on the table top, hoping the entire situation would evaporate is if it had never been.

It had begun yesterday. Begun so simply that neither one had realized it at first. Why would they, in the middle of a rescue operation with so much at stake? With Karrde's freedom at stake? there had been no time to ponder such things.

"Mara, we are going to have to talk about this at some point," he said gently.

She shook her head but did not raise her eyes. "No."

"Why not?"

"You know why, Skywalker. I don't want any part of this."

His silence at that statement almost made her want to look at him, wondering what she would have seen in his eyes. Instead, he reached over and took her hand in his. "We made this happen, Mara. Doesn't matter how it happened, or when, or why, just that it did."

Now she was compelled to look at him, but she couldn't. Was he right? Had they both made it happen? Was it that simple?

"Yes. It is that simple."

"Stay out of my mind," she told him, voice edged and sharp.

"You're projecting. Can't help but overhear it."

In the midst of the chaos, they'd been thrown together and for one moment, everything had fallen into place as they'd held each other for support. Looking into his eyes, nothing else had mattered, and all she?d had to do for an instant was trust him. Trust that they would succeed in what they'd set out to do... it hadn't been until the danger was behind them, when the adrenaline had faded, that the bond revealed itself.

As she stared at his hand, solid and warm against hers, she found herself nodding? maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

Suddenly, the hand started to twitch, as if having a spasm, and she frowned. Taking hold of his hand, she caressed it, waiting for the twitching to cease... and then she looked into his eyes. She found compassion, and a half-smile, and she smiled in return.

They would talk later, but for now... silence and company was enough. The table no longer felt crowded...


	2. Chapter 2

Mara didn't want to break the moment and return them to reality, because the more she held his hand, the better she felt about the bond. But? she knew that if they continued to stare into each other's eyes all evening, they'd never leave the restaurant. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Helping me undo my mistake... to rescue Karrde."

He was silent for a long minute, still holding her hand from across the table top. It was as if he was memorizing her in that moment. Then he nodded and smiled slightly. "Even though we..."

She shook her head. "What's done is done."

"Hmm... I didn't say it at the time, but thank you for getting me away from C'Boath."

Mara sighed at the reminder. They'd have to deal with that eventually, wouldn't they? "He's still out there..."

Luke nodded. "I know. So what are we going to do about this?"

"Is there anything we can do about it, Skywalker?"

"I... don't know?"

"Then we do nothing," she said as she held his gaze firmly. "Until we know something."

"But I thought you didn't like it."

"It's simple, really... We can't break it and we definitely can't tell anyone about it." She smiled at him thoughtfully. "So... our secret?"

Luke considered that suggestion as he looked at her, blue eyes narrowed. There was no harm in keeping it to themselves, was there? "All right... our secret it is."

Mara thought about her employer and his family? people who were always looking for clues in their behavior. "How long do we get to keep it to ourselves, though?"

Luke gently squeezed her hand and smiled again. "As long as we want."

"Thought I'd find you two here," Karrde's voice suddenly spoke up from behind them, and they let go of each other's hands. He looked between them shrewdly. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Mara shook her head. "No. We were just discussing which route to take to get out of here."

Karrde glanced at Luke, who nodded, and then at the back of Mara?s head again. "All right... when you've finished deciding, I'll be on the ship. Don't take too long, now."

Luke watched Karrde leave and then leaned closer to Mara. "I don't think he was fooled."

Mara nodded in agreement. "No... he wasn't."

"You ready to go?"

"Would it matter if I weren't?"

Luke chuckled. "Probably not."

Mara looked at him, then stood up. ?We have to get out of here sooner or later, though? She locked eyes with him again, and had to fight the urge to smile. Was his cheerfulness that infectious? This bond was going to take some getting used to?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Credit where credit is due, and Zhan rules. TTT side of plot disclaimed.

* * *

Karrde didn't have to look at them to realize something was going on. He'd seen it just before interrupting them, and the sudden unlocking of hands when he'd finally said something only confirmed it.

Something had happened. Just watching Mara out of the corner of his eye, he could tell she was on edge? more so than normal.

"You can stop," she muttered at him in what sounded very much like a hiss.

"Stop what?" Karrde wondered as he turned away from the Falcon?s controls to look at her straight on.

"I'm fine. Everything is fine... plus or minus Grand Admiral Thrawn getting to that fleet you told me about before anyone else does."

Karrde swiveled back around to look at the control board. Her tone? she was upset. "Is that what you're worried about?"

"Is there anything else to be worried about?"

Ah. It wasn't all she was worried about, but she really didn't want to talk about it. He could understand and would let it rest. For the time being, at least.

A stifled snort drew his attention to the third person seated in the cockpit. He'd been so quiet, Karrde had nearly forgotten he was there. Something about that exchange had amused the Jedi... he would have to think on that one.

* * *

Standing in her room in the former Imperial Palace and staring out at the Manari mountains in the distance, Mara couldn't help but shake her head. After so long, to be back in the Imperial palace... it was almost a slap in the face.

Black memories gathered around her as she grated her fingernails across the craved swirls of the window frame. This place had been the scene of important government meetings, glittering social functions, and dark and private intrigues.

Her life had effectively begun here. It was where she?d been when it had ended.

Faces she remembered only too well swam around her and she wanted to turn away from them all. The Emporer stood out among them? she could see him in her mind?s eye as clearly as if he were staring in at her through the window, his wrinkled face frowning, yellow tinged eyes hard with anger and disapproval.

YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.

The command echoed through her mind, stronger than ever, and she nearly buckled at the force of it. Planting a hand on the window sill, Mara took several deep breaths. It was the first time it had echoed through her mind, but this was the first time it had been that strong. "I'm trying."

Only... trying to what? The more she?d gotten to know him, and now with the bond in place... she didn't even believe herself any more. Did it really change things that much?

Underneath the echoes, she felt surprise not her own wash through from him and suddenly wanted to throw something hard against the wall. He'd felt it.

Before she could respond to the unspoken quiry, Karrde poked his head through the door adjoining their rooms. "Mara? Come in here, please."

* * *

Luke caught up to her as she was preparing the Y-Wing to leave. "What was that?"

Mara stooped and looked up at him tiredly. "A headache. Why?"

He studied her, feeling that she wanted him to drop it. To let it be. "Your headaches talk to you?"

"Yes."

Luke stared at her. "Mara..."

"Do we have to talk about this now?"

"Better now than later."

"Well it's going to have to be later," she said as she turned her attention back to the Y-Wing. "I'm heading out. Trogan system."

Luke didn't like it, but he nodded anyway. "Then it can wait."

"Good... Don't get into too much trouble, now."

"Me?"

"Yes. You." She stopped herself on that note and continued with the pre-flight check.

"Same goes for you, Mara."

She snorted in laughter as she walked away. Out of trouble? Right... trouble was what she was heading out to find. They both were.

Luke turned back to look at here. "You know what I meant."

"Just go, would you?" She watched him go, wondering if it was worth it to let him live if he kept picking up on her thoughts like that?


	4. Chapter 4

Luke sat with Han in the waiting area of the neurology wing of Coruscant Medical Center, avoiding the other's eyes as they waited for news on Mara's condition. They'd made small talk all the way from the Katana about the revelation that Thrawn was now using clones and Han had kept it light. It was almost as if he knew that Luke really didn't want to talk about what had distracted him so badly when Mara had been knocked unconscious out there in her ejection seat.

Finally, he broke the silence and turned to look at Han. "Was this how it felt?"

"How what felt?"

"That night on Hoth, after... you know. After."

Han didn't answer as he slowly turned and regarded Luke with an unreadable expression. Then he nodded. "Yes... Been a long time since I thought about it, but yes. Warmer here, though."

Luke sighed as he sat back and leaned again the wall. "I'm sorry, Han."

"For what? I don't think it was your fault that you got..."

"Attacked?"

"Yes. That."

Luke nodded. It hadn't been anyone's fault... "What's taking them so long?"

"Medical things always take a while," Han patiently reminded him as someone opened a door nearby, and a woman came out and looked at them. "Especially when people are knocked unconscious. Medics are touchy."

The woman stared at Han, shook her head with a smile, and looked at Luke. "He's right. We are picky about that kind of thing. For good reason, at that."

Luke blinked at her levity. Then he frowned, recognition setting in as he placed her. "Were you...?"

"With the fleet at Sullust? Yes, Jedi Skywalker. I was. How's your hand?"

"Fine."

"No twitching or anything?"

"It does occasionally," he admitted, as he knew he wouldn't be able to get away with lying to a medic. Luke wished he remembered what her name was, but kept coming up blank. "We're waiting on news about..."

The woman held up a hand and forestalled him from completing the sentence. "We've got her in bacta now, sir... and she's in good hands, you know."

Luke tired to smile. "Of that, I have no doubt. Can I see her?"

She shook her head and looked at Han. "Can you take him to eat something? It'll be some time before we are ready to take Miss Jade out of the bacta."

Han nodded and stood up. "I can do that... Come on, Kid. There's a talk you and I need to have, so let's go to the cafeteria."

"What talk," Luke wondered as he stood up and let Han lead him away. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could have sworn the woman was laughing softly behind him.

* * *

Luke was once again avoiding Han's gaze, only this time with food, which he was eating slowly. He had a feeling he knew why Han wanted to talk and wanted to avoid it as long as possible.

"It's not going to work, Luke," Han finally told him after long minutes of silence. "Didn't work on YavinIV, certainly isn't going to work now."

"What if I don't want to talk?"

"Then we'll sit here until you do."

Luke glanced up at him and saw the wry seriousness in Han's eyes and a smile threatening to break out. "I'm just worried, Han."

"Um-hmm... and you turning to stare at a bulkhead on the katana was what? My imagination?"

Luke winced. He'd forgotten about that. Mara had arrived in the middle of everything, demanding in his mind to know what was up and he'd had to stop to tell her. "You saw that?"

"It was hard to miss. Both times."

Luke let out a long, cleansing breath. He would have to be careful in explaining this. "Mara and I... kind of have a bond."

Han frowned. "What kind of bond?" When Luke looked at him with more seriousness than he'd expected, Han was left to blink, surprised at the implications. Normally, Luke was only that serious about one thing... "This is a Force thing, isn't it?"

Luke nodded gravely. "Yes."

"Doesn't she hate you or something?"

"I'm... not sure." And there it was. He wasn't certain if it was her that wanted to do it, or the voice he'd overheard that was telling her to do it. That was part of why he wanted to see her now. For answers. He glanced at Han again. "No one else can know."

Han nodded. "Sounds like you're still figuring it out. When did it happen?"

"A week ago."

Han got the feeling that it was a touchy subject and let it drop.

* * *

The medics had finally allowed him to see her, and Luke could do nothing but sit by her bed and watch her as she slept fitfully, now in a healing trance to help things along. He hadn't heard that voice ring out again, but maybe she had to be awake for that.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and he turned to find the medic standing there, smiling at him. "What?"

"Nothing, really." She pulled up a chair and that's when he noticed that she'd brought diagnostic equipment with her. "Let's see about those twitches, shall we?"

"It's fine," he told her. "I just removed some of the power supply a while back, is all."

She pulled one of those rolling table things for a hard surface, and gestured for his hand. He grudgingly allowed her to look at it. "And why did you do that?"

"Had to get out of a shed." He watched as she opened up the access port in his wrist and started testing it, occasionally wincing at the feedback along the nerves. "Is lack of power the reason it keeps doing that?"

"Certainly didn't help matters. Hmmm... you've got some kind of malfunction going on. Shouldn't be feeling the feedback like that at all." She let go for a moment, got what she needed, and then resumed her task. "It's in good shape other than what's broken, though."

"Good to know. Though the twitch was actually a good thing," Luke told her as he glanced at Mara, remembering that moment in the restaurant when his hand had started twitching. Maybe he didn't want the medic to fix it...

"Um-hmm... got it. Good or bad, it's fixed now. Now were did I put that pack of batteries in the kit?" She rummaged in the kit for a few moments, then smiled and set said bag of very small power supply units on the rolling table. "Found 'em."

Luke was tempted to smile at her antics as she carefully inserted the small units into their settings, took out the remaining old ones, and then closed the access port. "Thank you."

She patted his hand, packed up her tools, and stood up with a soft smile. "You're welcome. Want me to bring you something to read while you wait?"

"You don't have to."

She scrutinized him, then shrugged. "All right. She probably won't wake up for hours, though." When he nodded again, the medic left the room.

Luke was left to smile and watch Mara as she slept on. He wanted to be present when she woke up...


	5. Chapter 5

Luke wasn't very startled to see a young man with a portable computer enter the hospital room and make himself right at home. He'd politely asked to borrow the rolling table, set up shop, and gotten himself lost in the screen for an hour or two. For a while, the only sound in the room was the clinking of buttons as he worked.

"I'm Ghent," he said after a while. Then his eyes widened at something he saw on the screen and he packed everything up again and left. Luke watched him go, wondering what that had been about. The name sure sounded familiar, even if the boy himself did not.

* * *

Mara climbed her way back to consciousness, as if she'd been at the bottom of a deep, dark well full of dark, smothering cotton. She opened her eyes to find the room she was in bathed in the glow of twilight. The room didn't look at all familiar, but as she turned her head to survey it, and a presence she was still getting used to registered through the Force, Mara smiled. He was sitting in a chair that didn't really appear to be all that comfortable... snoring as he slept.

Has he been sitting in here long enough to fall asleep? Just how long had it been?

She was about to say something to rouse him when a woman in a white medic's tunic entered quietly and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh..."

Mara sat up slowly, blinking at the familiarity of this very unfamiliar woman. "That doesn't look at all comfortable," she said in a hushed tone.

The woman smiled and replied in a matching whispered tone. "Let him sleep a while. He's been in here for two entire days, practically guarding you, Miss Jade." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "Now, then... how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"And do you know what planet you're on?"

Mara glanced out the window to see a city-scape she recognized. "Coruscant."

"And who the guy here is?"

"Skywalker."

She pulled a pen light out and tested Mara's eyes. Then, satisfied, she nodded to herself. "All clear." She motioned to the sleeping Jedi. "And when he wakes up, remind him to NOT break his hand the next time he needs to get out of a shed. And, if he does, to have it looked at sooner than five months after the fact."

Mara watched as the woman stood up, frowning. When had he broken his hand getting out of a shed? "Thank you, Doctor..."

"Melyan," she supplied helpfully. "Though really, I'm not a doctor yet. I'm a medic."

"There's a difference?"

The medic smiled. "As much difference as there is between an X-Wing pilot and an NRI agent. Training, you know?"

Mara smiled. "Thank you, Medic Melyan."

The woman nodded and left the room, and Mara turned her attention to Luke, who had slept through the hushed exam. She laid back down and watched him for a long while.

* * *

Luke opened his eyes to find Mara watching him with a smile. Then he blinked, realizing that the sun had long since set. How long had he been asleep?

"Not too long," Mara told him humorously. "The medic who was in here earlier said to let you sleep. And also something about you waiting five months to get your hand fixed after getting out of a shed. When was that?"

He stretched a little and then leaned closer to study her. "You locked me in the shed on Myrkyr, Mara. How did you think I got out?"

She peered back at him, suddenly defensive and not knowing why. "I... didn't really think about it."

"Hmmm... You look better."

"Compared to what?" She wondered, daring him to explain he meant.

Luke's eyes didn't leave her face, but she could feel his relief to see her awake and talking. It flowed from him like a beacon in the muted light of the room. "Compared to you floating somewhere out in a debris field, out cold in your ejection seat." Mara winced at the uncomfortable reminder. "Which brings me to something I've been wondering..."

Somehow, she knew she wasn't going to like what was on his mind. "Which would be?"

"That voice sounded an awful lot like the Emperor. Was it you that wanted to... or him?"

The question hung suspended in the air between them for long minutes and then Mara rolled over and turned her back to him. "Does it matter?" She'd been right. She didn't like it... the question laid bare so much.

"Of course it matters, Mara. A voice in your head has been telling you to kill me."

She really wanted him to drop it, but knew he wasn't going to. She stared at the wall, longing to prolong... what? What was it that she was really trying to avoid? Laying there with her back to him, Mara could almost believe he'd left the room... but for the signature of his presence right there in the room, pushing her to answer him. He could and would wait her out, she knew that too.

And then, into the silence of the room, it rang out again: _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER. _

"Mara?" Luke prompted patiently.

"You killed him," she whispered. She could feel the confusion radiate at that statement. "You want to know why I have a voice ringing out, telling me to kill you? That's why."

She almost didn't hear his response. "But I didn't..."

Now it was Mara's turn to blink. "What?"

"I didn't," Luke told her again. "What gave you that idea?"

She could feel the honesty that resonated with his words, the honest confusion that rippled through the bond, and now she longed to look at him. He... hadn't? Didn't? "I don't understand."

And then, up from under her control, memory bubbled. He was in the throne room on the Death Star, surrounded by two figures with blazing lightsabers. Right before the final blows landed, he 'turned' to her... and said the words that had been echoing in her mind ever since.

The memory cleared, leaving them to the silence. Leaving Luke stunned at that revelation... something in his reaction didn't feel right and now she rolled back over and found him staring at her unblinkingly. "Skywalker?"

Luke blinked several times at hearing her voice, and then leaned very close and looked her in the eye. "That's not what happened, Mara."

"It isn't?"

"No."

"Then what did?" At his internal wince, she pulled him closer until they were nose to nose. "What happened that day, Luke? If what I saw isn't true, then what did?"

He seemed to want to look away but she held him firm. "Vader stopped me. My father stopped me after Palpatine provoked me and I fought my father all around that room. With words as well as my lightsaber." The silence was heavy as she absorbed that information. His father? "Yes. My father. Didn't you know?"

"No. Show me."

"What?"

"You saw mine, now show me yours. I want to see what really happened, Farmboy. I know you are telling the truth... I can feel it. I just... need to see it. Please?"

He considered her a moment longer, and then nodded without actually moving at all. At once they were both swept into a memory. His memory of talking to a very familiar man in black, trying to make him see what Luke himself knew: that Anakin Skywalker was buried somewhere beneath all that darkness. At different times, he could feel it, as if it were a small candle burning long into the night.

She saw him on Endor, telling Leia the truth and then leaving to go and confront that which could no longer be ignored. Saw the shock in Leia's eyes at the revelation, and realized he was letting her see everything. He didn't need to, but she had asked him to show her. Perhaps it was better to understand this way... she didn't know.

Saw him in the throne room, Palpatine greeting him with a relaxed and venomous tone of voice as he removed the binders from a distance, and felt Luke's determination ratchet up a notch.

Listened as the man who had trained her, had raised her, tried to turn him as he in turn watched comrades fight and die from a distance. Felt as well as saw the superlaser take out Rebel ships in flashes of green destruction.

Saw him react after having been goaded for too much, grab his lightsaber hilt with the Force, and try to swing at Palpatine only to be blocked by a glowing, red lightsaber. Heard the laughter and suddenly understood just how much of what she had seen through Palpatine's eyes had been a lie.

The memory played out, Luke trying to convince Darth Vader to see reason and return to the light, hiding under the dias in the darkness while Vader taunted him and hit him right where it mattered as pain from another source hit him. Leia's pain, from where she was down on the forest moon.

["...your feelings for sister. So you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. If you will not turn, then perhaps she will."] Mara wondered for a moment if there was shock in that synthesized voice of his at finding out he also had a daughter.

_I didn't think of it at the time,_ Luke told her silently. _I think he was._

They watched together as the memory resumed, Luke so enraged that he fought Vader all the way to a standstill. The only thing to stop him from landing that final blow was the sight of wires protruding from the severed hand, and mocking laughter from behind. He turned and faced the robed and disfigured man, and told him no, he would not turn, tossing his saber hilt away to make his point.

Mara suddenly wanted to look away, for she knew what he'd do from long experience... and as the remembered pain from the Force lightning hit, they both winced.

It kept coming until suddenly it stopped and someone screamed. Luke, coming back to his senses, looked up to find Palpatine in the air, still radiating dark energy, and Vader holding him up, the electricity hitting him as he flung the man down the nearby shaft.

Luke had to scramble to pull his father back from the edge and energy dissapated from down in the shaft, and Mara thought the memory would end there. It didn't.

She watched as together they limped all the way to a hanger bay, where Vader collapsed and Luke dragged him the rest of the way to a lowered shuttle ramp where he made his last request: to see his son with his own eyes.

As Luke removed the helmet and saw the man underneath for both the first and last time, Anakin smiled up at him. And then, in a voice that sounded very different in tone from the modulated monotone of the suit, implored his son to leave.

Mara was struck by the simpleness of of Anakin's words as Luke protested, wanting to save him: "You already have... Tell your sister, you were right about me. You were right!" Was that joy in his eyes? It sure seemed like it.

She shared in his grief as he got his father's body on to the shuttle and off the station in the nick of time, and watched as he first built a pyre, and then lit it, holding a solitary funeral as the armor melted and the body was burned to ashes in the darkness.

Han and Leia were waiting for him amid celebrating rebels and Ewoks, and then with a sense of joy and family after seeing three ghosts and Leia drawing him back into the group, the memory evaporated and they were left, still staring at each other in her hospital room. "That's what happened?"

"Yes," Luke whispered. "How was it for you?"

She felt like wincing all over again. "I spent the better part of a week unconscious... Woke up to Isard."

He kissed her nose. "It's over, Mara."

"You're right. It is... Nothing but the ghosts."

"No. Nothing here but you and me."

"And me," a dry voice said from the doorway, startling both of them. "Jedi Skywalker, really. She only woke up a few hours ago."

They turned to find a nurse Mara was unfamiliar with standing there with a tray of food. "Is that for me?"

"For both of you," she told them as she entered and set it down on the roll-away table. She glanced at Luke. "You look like you could use some more sleep."

Luke sighed. "I've been sleeping fine."

"Um-hmm..." She looked at Mara. "There'll be a doctor here in the morning to spring you. That sound okay?"

Mara nodded. "That's fine... This bed is rather comfortable. Wouldn't want to have to give it up too soon."

"Flattery about the accommodations will not get you out of vitals at 0500."

"Was worth a try," Mara said as the nurse started to do the vitals routine. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes. Now hush and I'll be done quickly."

Mara felt silent laughter flow through the bond and wanted to shoot him a glare. Soon enough, vitals were completed, and the nurse left them alone again. She looked at the tray of food and contemplated what was there: two sides of orange jello, what appeared to be mashed tubers, very... oddly colored vegetables, and... "Is that some kind of meat dish?"

"Looks that way," Luke replied as he picked one of the meat dishes up along with a spork and tried it. He made a bit of a face at the taste. "Not too bad, really. Reminds me of an awful stew that my aunt made once or twice after a mishap with profrogs."

Mara frowned at him. "Profrogs?"

Luke nodded. "Kind of a... rodent? They got into the underground chamber a few times and decimated the crops. More than once, really. Try it, Mara."

Mara hesitantly reached over and picked it and a spork up off the rolling stand, and and sampled the dish. It... actually tasted worse than the most stale ration bar she'd ever had. How was that possible?

"It's hospital food," he reminded her.

"Well, yes, but... that's just plain awful." She took another bite and marveled at how bad it was. She glanced at the man sharing in her revulsion on the other side of the rollaway table, and he tried to manage a smile. _Is this one of those things we'll just have to endure?_

_I'll make it up to you,_ he sent back. _And yes... for tonight it is._

_I will hold you to that,_she told him as she chewed, wishing for something in the taste of the meat to at least be somehow appealing.

_My aunt and uncle had a saying for stuff like this,_Luke told her after a few moments of silence.

_Oh?_

'_When life hands you profrogs, make stew._'

She looked up at him for a moment, glanced down at the awful meat dish, looked up at him again, and couldn't help but want to laugh and never stop. There were a lot of things in life like that, and this situation they'd found themselves in certainly felt like one of those.

_We're going to have to talk about it eventually,_ Luke said when they'd moved on to the mashed tubers, which were definitely better than the meat. She pretended not to hear him, avoiding his eyes as she ate. What if she didn't want to talk about it? _Mara?_he pleaded silently. He let the silence hang there in the air between them, careful not to push any more than necessary. She'd talk when she was ready. Maybe.

She willed herself to look at him, and again it rang out between them. "There is nothing to talk about. He wanted revenge."

"And you still..." Luke trailed off as she held up a hand to silence him. "What?"

"We aren't done eating yet," She reminded him as she picked up the vegetable dish. "It can wait a little while, seeing as it isn't going anywhere."

He chuckled. "True."

"Come now, Luke. Eat your vegetables."

"Yes, Mara," he said as he picked up the dish with vegetables and began to partake. _These aren't so bad._

_Certainly better than that meat,_ Mara said, distaste clearly in the tone of her mental voice. _Wonder how they made it taste that bad?_ His only reply was a mental laugh that made her smile as they whiled away the minutes in the muted light of the hospital room. The jello was quickly eaten. _We should have eaten that one first,_she told him as she set the empty container back on the tray.

Luke nodded. _Definitely._

She stared at him for long moments as she pushed the rolling table away and swung her feet over the edge of the bed to touch the cold floor. Considering him a moment more, she held out a hand to him. "Help me?"

He nodded and took her hand. "Of course."

It had been in what Palpatine had said in Luke's memory that had given her the clue. Together they would wield the power, and only together would the darkside rule. It had done so, side by side, for twenty years or more.

The same was true of light. Together, they could drive his last command from her mind. She had wanted to carry it out when first he crossed her path, but things had gotten in the way. In the forests on Myrkyr, she'd had every opportunity... and then he had surprised her by being both likeable and capable. She hadn't wanted to like him... but feelings change with knowledge and proximity.

And now, as she joined him, as she let him inside to help silence the voice, the last vestige of the man she'd followed loyally and loved as if he'd been her father, Mara Jade accepted the bond between them. She could do nothing else, for here was someone who accepted her unconditionally, no matter what her background had been or that she had been on a mission to kill him when first she laid eyes on him.

Together, the found the source of the voice, and together they silenced it... and soon, it was nothing but a memory.

When the room came into focus again, Mara caught him yawning and smirked. "Maybe you should have the bed and I should have the chair?"

Luke shook his head. "No... this chair isn't that uncomfortable."

"Obviously. You took a long nap in it."

Luke shook his head and stood up, answering the need to stretch at last. "Well, you took too long waking up."

Mara smiled and threw her spork at him.


	6. Chapter 6

Luke caught the spork and looked at it for a long moment, thinking about what they'd discovered on the Katana. Even now, it was still hard to believe.

"Something is troubling you," Mara said after a minute of silence watching him. Luke blinked and looked up from the spork, somewhat surprised at her insight. This bond was really going to take some getting used to.

"Yes," Luke answered as he set the spork down on the rollaway table. He suddenly wanted to wait to tell her, but wasn't certain why. "On the Katana, there... Something came to our attention."

"Which was?"

"They're using clones." He glanced at her, not surprised at all to find her frowning at that revelation. "Hadn't much thought about it until now."

Mara watched as he sat back down, keenly aware of just how big it was that what was left of the Empire was using clones. He'd been sitting by her side all that time instead of looking into the clone problem? "You want to go and look."

Luke nodded. "You're more important, and it could wait a few days. And yes. I want to go and look."

The admission of her importance to him was touching, and Mara smiled slightly. "For information."

Luke nodded again. "Yes, Mara. Of course I want to go and scout for information."

"I'm going with you." Her tone left no room for argument.

"Mara..."

"What?"

"You just woke up from..." he paused and looked her in the eye, seeing the familiar determination. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

"No, you're not. I'm going... Someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble."

Luke was tempted to laugh and settled for a smile. "Well, then... I guess we're going."

* * *

Morning came and neither was awake to greet the nurse at 0500, who took vitals on Luke as well as Mara because she had the time and she'd started to consider him a patient as well. He wasn't, but it never hurt to practice taking vitals.

When Luke woke up, he found Mara watching him from her hospital bed and reading a datapad at the same time. "What is that?"

"Intel reports. As close as I could get while confined to this room, anyway." She glanced at him over the datapad. "I'm still going with you."

Luke nodded slowly. "Wasn't even going to consider talking you out of it."

She smiled and kept reading. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

* * *

Later on, Luke took her to his apartment after she'd been discharged and begun cooking. She should have been surprised that he would cook for himself, but she wasn't. Of course he could; being in the rebellion and his upbringing before meant he could and would. "You don't have to do this."

Luke chuckled as he stirred what was in the pan. "After that awful meat dish, yes I do. What do you think they call that, anyway?"

"Oatmeat," Mara told him automatically as she sat down at the table and looked around his small kitchen.

"Oatmeat? As in..."

"As in not actually being made from a meat product."

"Oh." Silence descended as he transferred what was in the pan to two plates and brought it over to her. "Mara?"

She looked at him. "What?"

"You really want to come?" The question was met with a cold glare that seemed to echo into the silence and across their bond as Luke set the two plates on the table. Satisfied, he nodded once and went to fine his silverware. Of course she did. She'd said so.

* * *

They met Han and Leia at the spaceport for breakfast, which hadn't been nearly as bad as Mara had thought it was going to be when Luke told her while she'd packed her bag the night before. As she stood, watching and listening as Luke said his goodbyes to his sister and brother-in-law, Mara had to wonder why Solo kept glancing at her with a raised eyebrow every so often. Did he know something? It sure seemed like it.

She again turned her attention to Leia, only just stopping herself from staring in amazement. The roundness of her abdomen, even hidden under her senatorial garb... she had gone into battle a little over a week ago? The thought of it had Mara wanting to shake her head. She understood that it had been necessary, but...

*_Don't,_* Luke thought to her. *_Leia knew what she was doing._*

Now Mara allowed herself to frown, however minutely. How could he talk to them and do that at the same time? *Going into battle...*

*_Let it go, Mara._*

She nodded and stayed silent. Finally, Luke turned to her, waiting for her to say something, and she realized that she had lost track of the conversation. "What?"

"You're coming along," he prompted with a smile that infuriated her.

She nodded and looked at the Solos. "After all, he can never have too much backup."

Leia smiled and leaned into Han, who was studying her again. "That's true." She nodded to her brother, and then away they went.

Mara watched as Han and Leia walked away down the corridor of the spaceport, waiting until they were far enough away before turning to Luke. "I take it that you didn't want me to get into it with her about..."

"Correct. She'll be safer out there in the middle of it all with Han than she will be on the outskirts for the time being." He shook his head as she leveled a curious frown at him. "Tried hiding her and it didn't work. Noghri found her on Kashyyk."

Mara blinked at that revelation. So that was why he'd stopped her from saying anything. "Ah."

"Ready to go?"

How many times was he going to ask if she really wanted to go, and in how many ways? "Of course."

* * *

They said very little to one another as they prepared the small ship to leave. It was, in Luke's words, 'less conspicuous than my X-Wing.' It also wasn't exactly the sort of ship one would normally take on a scouting trip...

"It's Leia's," he muttered in answer to her unspoken wondering as he worked with the navicomputer. "And it is so."

Mara sighed. "Would you stop that?"

He glanced back at her. "Stop what?"

"Answering me when I did not ask you anything."

Luke took a moment to turn and stare at her. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't ask you about it, I was just having my doubts. My own doubts, Luke."

Luke blinked in confusion. Had he been doing that constantly?

"Yes, you have," she assured him, and then blinked at her own behavior. "Um..."

He was silent before something beeped on the control panel and demanded his attention. "Talk about it later?"

She nodded. "I think we should. That, or this is getting slightly out of hand."

He smiled before answering the comm and speaking to flight control. They'd gotten their clearance... it could wait a little while.

* * *

Safely off of Coruscant and into hyperspace a few hours later, Mara finally worked up the courage to talk to him about it. "So this... thing... are we always going to be picking up on each other like that?"

Luke considered it from that angle. He hadn't thought about it in the way she was presenting it: that it was a privacy matter for her. He knew she was used to being on her own, that she was a private person... "I don't know. Maybe."

She sighed. "Wonderful."

"Who says it's wrong, Mara?"

She might have accepted that there was a bond between them, but... "Did I say it was wrong, Skywalker?"

"Not in so many words..."

She fought the urge to snort in laughter. "It's not wrong. It's just really going to take some getting used to."

"How's your head?"

"Fine. Why?"

"Just checking," he told her with a smile. Really, he was at a loss for things to say, but didn't want to voice it.

"Run out of things to say?" She wondered after a moment of comfortable silence. "Never."

"Now who is answering who, hmm?"

"Can't let you have all the fun, Farmboy." She leaned closer to the console, trying to read the small screen. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Where the Force told me to," Luke said sincerely. He lasted ten seconds with her staring at him incredulously before pulling out a data pad and showing it to her. "Recon data. Leia gave it to me earlier."

"Ah. Makes more sense than flying by Force Braille." Somehow, she had a feeling that they were gonna at least have some kind of mishap along the way.

Luke paused, shrugging. "Last reconnaissance trip I took, ended up stuck in the middle of nowhere due to my hyperdrive being shorted out by an interdictor. Mishaps happen."

That was not exactly a comforting thing to hear...


	7. Chapter 7

Luke was sitting in the pilot's chair in the cockpit, watching the blueness of hyperspace pass them by. Mara had gone back to the rear storage compartment to check through the gear one more time. He wanted to reach out and check on her, but after they'd started answering each other back and forth, decided to let it be and not intrude any more than he already was.

So he sat in the pilot chair, silently marveling at the calming effect that the tunnel of hyperspace produced if one watched long enough. And, for the first time in way too long, he had nothing to do for the time being. No one was around, save the woman currently checking the gear in the rear storage compartment. He was again tempted to check on her, but she seemed to not like that much. So relaxing was the view outside that Luke let himself just sit and watch... and drift.

_In his mind's eye, he saw Mara carrying a box into what looked like a room on the Wild Karrde... only one unfamiliar to him. Setting the box down, she looked into it and pulled out a bell. Looking in the direction of a corner where something small, dark-colored, and fuzzy lay, she began to ring it. _

_She rang the bell and seemed to expect a reaction. Not getting one, she set the bell down and looked in the box again, this time pulling out a sock. Wait... a sock? Luke couldn't blame her for staring at it. _

_Turning, he found that the... cat? It was a cat? Indeed it was. Small, with golden eyes, and black with a small white patch on it's head. _

_He watched as Mara held out the sock invitingly and the small animal attacked it with an unexpected vigor._

* * *

Mara was still in the rear storage compartment, crouched on her haunches, and checking the equipment one last time when a sense of concentrated calm rolled into her from the bond. She blinked as she set down the piece she'd been holding, and stood up, wondering where that had come from.

Almost without warning, what felt like a memory overtook her.

_She was standing at a window, looking out over a city street she'd only ever seen once during a diplomatic trip early in her years of training. Once, but clearly recalled. The city of Theed, on Naboo. _

_"You're not supposed to be up and about, you know," an unfamiliar woman's voice chided her gently. "You are supposed to be resting."_

_Mara turned to find an older woman with graying red hair standing in the doorway. "Couldn't stay in bed anymore and I wanted her to look out with me."_

_The woman smiled and approached, holding out her arms. "You must be tired, though. Can I?"_

_Mara nodded and handed the small precious bundle she'd been holding over to the other woman. "Not tired so much as..."_

_"Sore?"_

_"Yes." Together they looked down at the small babe and smiled._

And then, suddenly, Mara found herself standing in the rear storage compartment again, staring at a bulkhead. She blinked, stunned at what she'd seen. A baby? And who was the woman?

Shaking her head in confusion, Mara looked down at the equipment again. It looked fine to her.

* * *

She found Luke sitting in the cockpit... almost asleep he was so relaxed. Sitting down next to him in the copilot's chair, Mara studied him intently. He almost seemed to be meditating, though his eyes were open and he was staring out the front of the cockpit.

Carefully, gently, she reached over and touched his arm. "Hey."

Luke startled and turned to her. "What?"

She smiled, finding his momentary confusion a little funny. And really, there wasn't a need to tell him about that weird moment in the rear storage compartment. A child and a woman she didn't know? Odd. "I wanted you to know that I checked and rechecked the gear... Feel better?"

Luke nodded as she stood up from the copilot chair. "Yes. Mara?"

"Hmm?"

He frowned for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Nothing." As he watched her leave the cockpit, he shook his head. Whatever it was that he had seen, he just couldn't picture her as a cat person. Very strange thing to see, that...

* * *

As Mara stood in the small galley, staring aat a pack of dried rations but not really seeing it, she couldn't help but wonder what it was she had seen. The woman had felt familiar, but she had never seen her before.

Shaking her head to clear it, Mara set the ration pack down and closed the cabinet which she'd taken it out of. She turned around to find Luke standing there, watching her silently. "Hi."

"Something wrong with the ration stores?"

"No," Mara said as she picked up the ration pack again and then curtly brushed past him. "I was just thinking about something."

"Mara..."

"What?" she asked as she turned back to look at him, eyebrows raised in an unspoken challenge and wondering what he was going to say.

He paused, suddenly hesitant. Maybe now wasn't the best time... "I, uh... don't like eating alone." Inwardly, Luke winced at how it sounded.

She frowned at him. He was dancing around something, she was certain of it. But... if he wanted to eat with her rather than talk, that was fine with her. "All right. I'll be in the cockpit. Get yourself a ration pack and meet me there."

Luke nodded and watched her leave silently. Then he shrugged it off and turned to get a ration pack for himself. At least he was back in familiar territory with her... somewhat on edge.

* * *

She'd just started eating when he quietly joined her, sitting now in the copilot's chair because she'd claimed the pilot's seat for herself. "Might want to eat that quickly. Transition in ten minutes or so."

He chuckled. "So that's why you're sitting in here."

"Partly. View's nice, too." She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow as she took a bite of her ration bar. Swallowing, she urged: "Really, eat."

Luke considered her for a moment more, and then began to eat as well. Whatever it was he'd seen, whether a dream or something else... it could wait.

* * *

From the air, the planet hadn't seemed like anything out of the ordinary. No, from the air, it had seemed... harmless. Not the type of place for Imperials to be planning anything other than a picnic. But as they'd both learned over time, appearances were often times deceiving.

Mara studied the exterior of the building through her binoculars. For an Imperial stronghold, it wasn't very impressive in anything but it's size. Also, it was up against a cliff. Why would they have built it like that, knowing they'd have nowhere to go if attacked? Strategically, it made no sense. "I don't like it."

"Which part? The fact that it's up against a cliff, or the part where we have to walk in there like criminals who own the place?"

She rolled her eyes at him rudely and then went back to studying the exterior with a critical eye. "Both... There's that front entryway that we can see, and nothing at the rear but open air, obviously."

Luke snorted. "Just because we can't see it doesn't mean they wouldn't have thought of that, Mara."

She turned and looked at him for a moment. "You think they have some kind of way down the cliff."

"Or a lift or something, sure."

Mara nodded, again studying the building. "Good thought, that."

"You ready to do this?"

She wasn't, but they weren't going to find anything out just sitting in the bushes a mile away, now were they? "As I'll ever be, Farmboy. I will take point."


	8. Chapter 8

The building was far, far bigger up close than it had been from a mile away. Like the rest of the buildings in and around Calius on Berchest, it was made of reddish-orange, ornately carved, crystal, that there was no doubt in Mara's mind that there was in fact some way out of it, other than by the front door. The very ornately carved front door which required Imperial Identification cards and a password to even pass beyond it.

What had drawn them to this building on this planet was both simple and complicated: hundreds of intelligence reports had pinpointed Calius as a funnel point for the clones... And Mara had recognized a very familiar blankness in the Force. It would have been normal on Myrkyr, but they were nowhere near it. Someone was using Ysalimiri to hide something... or were they? That question remained to be answered.

With Imperial Uniforms, forged identification cards, and passwords which Luke had Force-suggestion-lifted from an officer who wouldn't remember talking to either of them, the gained access to the building.

Now, standing in what appeared to be a common room just off the entryway, Luke couldn't help but glance at her in question. _What do you think?_

Mara didn't even spare a look in his direction in her visual persual of the people coming and going as they waited for someone of a higher rank than the Stormtroopers at the door to join them. _That there are way too many people here for this to just be a garrison... and that blankness is easier to recognize in here than it was from a distance._

Luke frowned. If there were any number of Ysalimiri here, wouldn't they have been affected as soon as they got near the building? _Above or below?_

_Above. I can feel things below, but not in the upper floors._

Luke nodded his assent. Felt that way to him, too.

Just then, a man in a uniform with a surly expression on his face joined them. "Admiral Jerv Mylar?" At Luke's voiceless, curt nod, the man looked at Mara. "Captain Janna Joleele?" Mara nodded, and the man made no move to shake either of their hands. "I am Governor Saffa. May I ask what brought you here, Admiral?"

"Orders," Luke answered easily. "You know how Grand Admiral Thrawn likes to do surprise inspections." If it hadn't been for the fact that they were standing in the middle of an Imperial coumpound, Mara would have, at the very least, chuckled at the officously ridiculous tone Luke was using. As it was, upon feeling the internal laughter, Luke had to resist breaking a smile.

Governor Saffa's eyes narrowed. "Quite." With a curt nod, he led them to a lift. "Inspection, you said?"

"Yes."

Saffa pressed the button to call for the lift and the three of them stood there in silence, waiting for it to arrive.

_He's not buying it,_ Mara told Luke once they were on the lift and watching as Governor Saffa pressed a combination of buttons.

As the lift started to move upward, Luke wanted to nod in response. _But even if he isn't, he's still-_ and right then, in mid-sentence, the Force vanished and he was very suddenly alone. [_Mara?_] he tried to send, but couldn't find her at all. A quick glance assured him she was still there, a little paler, and standing at attention, but he couldn't feel her. Ysalimiri.

When the door opened again and Governor Saffa stepped out ahead of them, Luke touched her shoulder carefully. When she looked back at him, he could see the panic reflected in her eyes that told him all he needed to know. It wasn't just him. "You all right, there, Captain?"

She nodded. "Just a little queasy from those spoiled ration packs."

Luke nodded back and then they moved to join the Governor in the hallway. Governor Saffa arched an eyebrow at Luke in question, and Luke shook his head. "There was a problem with spoiled rations."

"Ah," the Governor said as he led them to a door. "They're in here." He opened it and allowed them to enter first.

At seeing nothing in the room, Luke frowned and turned when the door closed, intending to say something. "I guess our cover wasn't that great..." Answering silence caused him to spin and take a gook look at Mara. Mara was standing stock still, the only outward sign of her tension the clenched fists at her side. She was staring at the closed door, her face expressionless, and but for the set of her posture, Luke wouldn't have known she was upset. "Mara?" If he was still off-balance, not being able to use the Force to sense what was beyond the opaqueness of the reddish orange walls, then...

"I don't believe this," she finally hissed at him, her jaw set.

"What?"

"They locked us in! No questions, no actually pretending to go along with it for more than five minutes! Just... they locked us in!"

Luke blinked at her outburst. It wasn't something he was used to hearing from her, that edge of panic in her voice. If possible, it sounded as tight as her clenched fists looked. "We'll get out."

She motioned to the walls and the ceiling. "No windows, no air vents. No way out but the door. Which is also crystal."

Luke nodded at her assessment and lit his lightsaber after pulling it out of his tunic. "If it is crystal, then it can melt." He started to try to cut the door open, and both of them got a surprise when the green beam of energy was refracted in about six different directions off of the crystal. Ducking and shutting it off at the same time, Luke grimaced. "Or not..."

Mara rolled and sat up, staring at him. "We're stuck in here, then."

"Only until we figure out how to get out of here," he told her as he went to go examine the door again. "And we will."

"You sound so certain of that."

He didn't feel as certain as he sounded, but as he turned to look at her, a part of him was glad she couldn't read beyond appearances on the surface. And that thought made him want to chuckle at the irony. To be glad for Ysalimiri for once. He joined her on the floor. "What's wrong?"

She appeared to be startled that he'd ask. "The last time we were under the influence of Ysalimiri, I wanted to kill you. And we were lost. You were calm then, too."

He was sure that wasn't the total answer, but it would do. "Panicking wouldn't have helped then, and it won't help now."

"And... I can't feel you."

Luke smiled and cupped her chin in his hand. "Easily solved."

"How can you be so calm?" She asked, their faces inches apart.

"Been through worse," he admitted. "So have you."

And then their lips met and Mara let him lead her back to her emotional center with just the sense of touch. There on the floor, there was contact.

* * *

Outside in the corridor, Governor Saffa smiled grimly at his incredibly simple ruse. Surprise inspections, indeed. Thrawn did no such thing, and even if he did, would have shown up himself.

"Keep a guard on the door," he ordered an underling as he walked away.

"Sir," the underling told him with an obeying salute.

* * *

Inside the room, Luke was loath to have to stop and do anything else, but at some point they'd really have to get out. "Mara..."

"Hmm...?"

"We need to... think about getting out now."

Mara sat back and stared at him, the present situation suddenly brought back to the fore again. "Right now? Why?"

"Among other things... there's no food in here."

Mara smiled and looked at the walls again with fresh eyes. "It's crystal."

"Right."

"And, as we now know, reflects saber light."

"Yes." He was starting to wonder where she was going with her assessment as she got up to study the walls.

"And if we can't use the Force, then we'll have to be creative." Mara ran her hand along the walls, wondering if there were any cracks or small imperfections. If the wall directly across from the door, she found one. It was small, a concave ridge where a chisel would have mistruck. "Found it."

"What are you going to do?"

"A technique I learned while on the run... from someone who was also on the run, apparently. The guy didn't even know what system he was in."

"It works on walls?"

"Walls, rocks, boulders... spaceships. Anything but people."

Suddenly remembering something, Luke turned and looked at the door behind them. "Um... Mara?"

"What?"

"We don't know if that wall is an out wall of the building. The cliff, remember?"

"I don't think it is. The lift was in the center, as far as I could tell. This room wasn't too far from it."

"But still..."

"If I'm right, you owe me another dinner."

"And if I'm right?"

"You get to say 'I told you so' right before we die." She paused and looked back at him. "Some place that doesn't serve any variation of Oatmeat."

"Deal," Luke told her with a chuckle. "If there are people on the other side, do you think they'll be surprised?"

"Yes. Cover your eyes. This was messy the last time I saw it done, and that was rock, not crystal."

Luke turned away, heard her mumble two words he didn't recognize, and immediately almost felt sorry for anyone on the other side of the wall as it started to noisily crack. Almost.

The cacophony of the wall shattering made him look... and she'd been right. For that matter, so had the intelligence reports. Fourteen identical people stared back at them, likely more stunned than Luke was at seeing them. Mara didn't even spare him a glance as she walked into the room and started giving orders for everyone to lay down on the floor that instance.

One of the clones looked like he was going to protest, but obeyed grudgingly.

That done, Mara bent down next to the guy and asked him pointed questions about what he knew and how many clones had been made, and where they were coming from, and about the Ysalimiri. When she got enough information, she stood up and looked around. Then she looked at Luke. "What do you think?"

"We've done our 'inspection', as it were."

"We have, at that." She looked down at the men laying on the floor around them, and then sighed. "Do you..."

"No," he said, grabbing her arm. "And neither do you."

* * *

Back on the Alderaan, Mara turned to him in question. "Why didn't you..."

Luke shook his head. "If anything, that Governor likely was so upset about our getting away that he executed them."

"You think so?"

"What's fourteen lives when there'll be more to fill the gaps?"

Mara evaluated that logic as she turned and readied the ship for hyperspace. "Good point."

Luke could feel that she was upset, now that they were away from the effect of the Ysalimiri, but now it felt like there was a wall between them. "Mara?"

"What?"

"Is something wrong?"

She turned to look at him again, green eyes narrow. "I panicked. I couldn't feel you, for the first time in a month, and I panicked. That shouldn't have happened."

"And?"

"And it can't happen again."

"What are the chances of running into Imperials with Ysalimiri again?"

"Luke..."

"And you've been around them before."

Sighing, she turned back to the navicomputer and concentrated on getting them into hyperspace. Quickly.

* * *

Mara didn't want to look at him, even after they'd dropped back out of hyperspace in New Republic space to get their bearings, and then jumped again. He was missing the point, and she didn't know how to explain it any better. A hand on her shoulder made her jump slightly, startled at the suddenness of it.

"I'll be the galley."

She nodded and listened as the sound of his footsteps faded into the background noise of the ship, then turned to look at the hatchway. He was trusting her with his sister's ship, but he still wasn't getting it.

What was the point of the bond between them if the absence of it, however temporary, made her panic?

* * *

Luke was fixing two sandwiches in the galley and doing his best to ignore the confusion that was reaching him from behind the wall she'd put up. He understood where she was coming from: the effect had startled him, too, even though they'd known going in that it was there.

And she did have a point: it shouldn't have affected either of them as hard as it had. He felt her enter quietly behind him. "Everything fine?"

"Yes," she answered, voice nearly a whisper.

Putting the sandwhiches onto plates and turning around, he regarded her with raised eyebrows. A moment or two went by, and then she nodded and moved to sit at the small table. He set the plates down and joined her at the table. "You're not... entirely wrong."

"What makes you say that?"

"Common sense." At her exasperated expression, Luke shook his head. "You know what I mean. I threw us both because it was a nearly unexpected change."

"So what do we do about it?"

The question hung there in the air between them as they ate, avoiding each other's eyes. Finally, Luke sighed and put down what was left of his sandwhich. "Honestly? I don't know. Prepare ourselves for the possibility it'll happen again?"

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only answer I have," he said as he carefully reached for her hand, knowing very well that she could swat his hand away and knock him unconscious in the same fix seconds. "And maybe that's enough."

Mara nodded, not taking her eyes off their clasped hands. "Maybe."


	9. Chapter 9

Elsewhere...

* * *

It is the middle of the night on Coruscant when a woman awakes from a troubled sleep. She stares at the ceiling, befuddled and confused before the reality of the dream that she knows isn't a dream slides into place. It wasn't a dream. No. She knows that. A warning... from the Force?

In the years since Endor, she'd not ever had a Force-related dream. There had been plenty of opportunities, but it never happened. Not even once. Unless that one where her husband had become chief of an Ewok tribe had been prophetic... but she was pretty certain it wasn't.

Knowing without a doubt that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, the woman got out of bed. It was one thing to know the Empire was out there somewhere, in remnants or no... quite another for them to come swooping in to do more harm than good. No one kidnapped anybody on her watch. Most especially not friends, or children of friends.

* * *

The Alderaan...

* * *

"You're not... entirely wrong," Luke finally conceded. "And I was startled, too." Mara continued to stare at their enjoined hands, as if tuning him out. "And I wanted to say this. It's been on the tip of my tongue for a week, but didn't feel right yet."

"Oh?"

"I wanted to say I love you."

She frowned and at last met his eyes. "What?"

"Doesn't feel right, saying it now, like this. Does it?"

Mara tried to smile, realizing that he was taking some of the pressure off. He didn't need to, not really. "I know what you mean. I care for you, but... that other thing? You're right. Doesn't feel right to say it yet. In fact, it..."

"Feels a little too fast?" Luke suggested.

That was exactly it. "Yes."

* * *

Coruscant...

* * *

She reached the landing pad just as the Millenium Falcon touched down and it's occupants disembarked from the ship. Right away, she knew something was a little off: neither Han nor Leia so much as looking at one another, and Leia was making a point of walking faster than he was. Which... was something, considering she was practically waddling from side to side with every step.

Leia nodded to her, then blinked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Here, here right now, or on Coruscant in general? Because I think you know the answer to the second one, Leia."

"Here right now. Don't you have better things to be doing than meeting us as we land?"

She snorted in derisive laughter. "There's a problem. We, uh... moved all your things to another, better protected suite."

Han, standing now behind Leia, frowned. "This is not the time for jokes or pranks, Ganda."

"A prank would have been much more fun than moving your furniture down five floors and setting it all up again just the way it was before we moved it, Captain. And you're right. It really isn't the time." She took a moment to really look at Leia, scrutinizing her appearance, then smiled. "Winter wanted me to remind you to visit with the medics. Prenatal care, you know."

Leia turned and glared at Han. "Did you comm her?! I don't need to be checked out."

"Yes, you do, and you don't get a say," Han told Leia calmly. He glanced at Roganda. "Would you be so kind as to help me escort my wife down to medical?"

Roganda had to resist a chuckle as she both saw his furry companion trying not to laugh behind them, and heard the low whine of Threepio's servos as he joined them. "With pleasure."

"And perhaps then you'll tell us why you moved our things, hmm?"

As they both took Leia, who grudgingly obliged them, by the arms and left the landing pad, Roganda sighed. "Had a dream that wasn't a dream, and decided to talk to palace security about some things. Then I had a long talk with Mon Mothma, and she agreed that, even if the dream was a false positive, it was better safe than sorry."

"And this dream that wasn't a dream, was what, exactly?" Leia asked, genuinely curious.

Over Leia's shoulder, she met Han's suddenly suspicious eyes, knowing he got what she wasn't saying. It had been a warning, and they really didn't need to burden Leia with it. "Just a maybe, future always in motion thing." And hopefully it'd STAY that way.

"That doesn't answer my question, Roganda."

"Wasn't meant to." Frowning again, Roganda glanced at Han over Leia's shoulder. Wait. They'd had a talk before about her seeing a medic soon? Other than the obvious... why?

"You picked that explanation up from Luke, didn't you?" Leia asked as they reached the medical suites and Roganda let her hand go.

"No. Did something happen?"

Han paused and looked at her. "Yes. Three months ago. When she was at Endor."

"Oh." That... actually didn't explain that much. Watching them disappear through the doorway, Roganda turned slightly to look at Threepio who had been uncharacteristically silent other than his whirring servos. "What happened to Leia at Endor?"

She got more of an explanation than she bargained for.

* * *

A/N: For those wondering how Roganda Ismaren ended up in the story... there's backstory. :) I direct you (those that are interested) to the in-progress "Small Comfort" story for that.


	10. Chapter 10

Han endured her directed silence patiently, knowing she was angry. He didn't want to upset her further, and anyway he was right about what had happened at Endor: she should have said something. A nurse came in, took Leia's vitals, asked some general questions, got some terse answers, and left again. Finally, after long minutes of her staring at the cutely decorated walls of the exam room, he couldn't keep silent any longer. "Leia?"

"No."

"No what?"

"What ever it is your going to say. No."

Han sighed. Of all the times to be stone-walled... "I just want to say-"

"Don't," she told him shortly, something in her tone making him pause. She hadn't moved, hadn't so much as budged an inch since he'd helped her to sit on the exam table, but now she was caressing the bulge of her stomach gently with one hand. "It happened so fast, what happened at Endor. Happened, and then it was over, and I didn't give it another thought. I saw... him. There wasn't time after to dwell on it. You don't think..."

Han reached out and held her other hand, both surprised and put more at ease when she let him. "No. But it's good to be sure."

Now she looked at him, and nodded in agreement. "You're right."

Any further discussion was cut short when the doctor joined them in the exam room.

* * *

Threepio was still giving Roganda the finer points on how the trip to the Noghri homeworld had gone when Han escorted Leia through the doors of medical. "You can stop now, Threepio!"

Han fought an urge to laugh as Threepio's monologue ground to a halt and they both turned to look at him. "What did you ask?"

"A far too general question," Roganda told him quickly. She clapped a hand on Threepio's metal shoulder. "Thank you, though, Mr. Gold. I had been wondering about a lot of the recent goings on and how you ended up with a different voice for two weeks." She turned to look at Han and Leia. "Well?"

"Doc ordered bedrest," Han said before Leia could say anything. "Everything checked out otherwise."

Roganda smiled. "That's good. Shall we go and find your new suite now, hmm?"

Leia shook her head. "I have to report to..." She trailed off at their glares. "What?"

"Mon Mothma can come to you if need be," Han reminded her as they began to walk away from medical, Roganda in the lead. "I think she'll understand."

"It's just that everything is so up in the air right now..." Leia paused, taking in Han's silence, the almost-laughing posture of Roganda's shoulders, and the whirring of Threepio's servos behind them. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

Roganda shook her head. "No. Not with the Alliance being what it is. Things always feel like they're 'up in the air', as you say."

Han chuckled. "True. And Winter's been sitting in on every meeting, so it's not like you'll be out of the loop."

Leia finally had to concede the point, even if she wasn't happy about it.

* * *

On the other side of the New Republic/Imperial line, they stopped at a space port. Luke's excuse had been flimsy: "A little bit of a breather in light of nearly being interrogated" by Imperials on Berchest. Mara didn't believe him on that account, not really. The space port's bar didn't do much convincing, either.

"Do you expect me to believe that you don't want to get back to Coruscant as soon as possible?" She shook her head at him as they snacked on some stale pretzles that were better than nothing. For some reason, the pretzles reminded her of ration packs. Very questionable ration packs. "Because I don't."

Luke didn't meet her gaze. "It's not that, Mara."

"Oh?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"I like your company."

"Enough to want to eat in a questionable space port?" She studied him for a long moment as she sat back in her chair. "Pull the other one."

"Down time is important, Mara."

"And it's your sister who will be having twins any day now."

He paused, glancing at her. "I know that. It's been on my mind since we left Berchest."

"So you figured we'd stop and have a not-so-cozy dinner?"

Luke chuckled. "No. We were supposed to meet Karrde on Berchest."

"Oh?"

"The details came from him. Artoo's sending an encoded hyperspace transmission to him, notifying Karrde that we completed the mission... but not the details."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess." She frowned at him. "Why are you just telling me this now?"

"Because honesty is good and you've not dropped that wall yet," Luke admitted, finally looking her in the eyes. "And you're right, Leia is due any day now, and... ow." He winced suddenly and blinked at her, and Mara was confused for half a second until the echoes of what he'd felt, a sort of attention-grabbing ache that demanded it be listened to. They sat there staring at eachother, and then Luke blinked again. "I think... we have to go."

Mara nodded. If that was what she thought it was, it was going to be a long couple of hours in hyperspace. She got up to follow him, wincing as another pain echo washed over her, and then blinked as images of that woman from earlier, an unfamiliar but familiar-seeming man, and floral arrangement in a simple vase floated up in her mind's eye. The flowers... she'd never seen them before, and the man and the woman were smiling indulgently down at her, as if they knew something she didn't know. Or were happy to see her. She didn't know which.

And then, as quickly as the images had appeared, they were gone again. She was left blinking in the aftermath, confused and unsettled.

"Mara?" Luke asked, startling her.

She stared at him as the reality of the space port bar resolidified around them. Then she was in motion, falling into step beside him. "We... you set a course. There's not much time, and it's nine or ten hours to Coruscant from here."

He followed her silently to where the Alderaan was docked, nodding to himself. "Later?"

"Maybe. It can wait." She thought he was going to question further, but instead they got to the ship and he left her alone without further prodding.

What had that been?

* * *

It was half an hour before she joined him in watching the expanse of hyperspace flash by. The molted blue did nothing to quiet his curiosity. He'd seen an image when she'd hesitated. Sort of grainy, out of focus... blue-green eyes staring up at him in unknown challenge.

It made no sense. None. He glanced at her, silent in the co-pilot's chair beside him, then looked away again.

"I don't understand it, either," Mara finally said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Maybe it's a side effect or something."

"What?"

"I had... something. Saw... it made next to no sense, but when we were in hyperspace on the way to Berchest, I had a... I want to say I had a vision. You were meditating or something."

Luke turned to her. "What was it?"

She didn't answer immediately. "People. A person and a little one. It was... like she knew me, which is odd because I'd never seen her before."

Luke frowned, not certain what to make of it. "Was there anything else?"

"Just what looked like a hospital room..." She paused, trying to connect the dots. Had there been something else she didn't immediately notice? "What about you?"

Luke took a deep breath. "Earlier, on the way out of the bar when you paused, I saw a pair of eyes challenging me. Or something." He wasn't going to mention the cat. For some reason, it was just too out there for him to say out loud. 'Oh, and you were trying to get a cat to play with you or something.' Yeah. That'd go over well.

She blinked at him in confusion. "I saw something... I think it might have been the same hospital room, but this time one more person... and a floral arrangement." Mara cocked her head to one side in question. "Do you think this might be a side effect of the bond?"

Luke shook his head after a moment of thinking about it. Only if she'd had a pet once. "Could be related to what we did to clear your head of that command for all we know."

"True." She winced as another of Leia's contractions hit him. Was it her imagination, or were those getting stronger? "How much longer, do you think?"

"For whom?"

"Hyperspace travel, Farmboy."

"Oh. A couple of hours." Which wasn't nearly soon enough.

She nodded and they lapsed again into silence.

* * *

It had definitely been a long ten hours in hyperspace and Mara was ready to see something other than the bulkheads of the Alderaan. Also eager to talk to someone other than Luke for a good long while. She was counting her blessings that he'd been too distracted to bring the subject of the odd flashes up again. Did she need to thank Leia and the twins for small blessings in disguise? Sure felt like she did.

As he landed the ship in port and they prepared to disembark, another image swam up to meet her... a particular flower. Not overly pretty, but kind of attention-grabbing. It was blue, with yellow and orange tints.

She blinked at the familiarity, and then as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone again. For a moment, she could almost smell a pungent, sweet odor. Almost.

When she became aware again, Luke was looking at her, frowning in concern. "What?"

"You all right?"

"Fine." She motioned to the landing pad around them, and was backed up by another of Leia's contractions rolling through. "Don't you want to go now?"

Luke nodded slowly. "Yes. Just making sure."

She was really, really glad that he wasn't going to ask further. And maybe later, she really would thank Leia profusely.

* * *

It was a waiting room, Roganda reflected as she sat in a chair, waiting for more news than a pain ripple every now and then from the Force. In a way, sitting here was almost cathartic. Almost. It reminded her of her son, just after he was born. So little, fragile...

Before the pain... before she'd let her loyalty and her pride destroy the only thing love had ever let her experience.

She was shaken out her dark thoughts by someone sitting down and wordlessly offering a cup of caf. Blinking, Roganda took the offered cup and stared into it. "Thanks."

"Saw you, thought you might want some company," the woman told her smoothly.

"Oh?"

"Flight nurse detail today."

Roganda glanced at her. "That anything like being a combat medic?"

"There are similarities, yes... more boredom than terror, though."

They both looked up as the waiting room doors opened and Luke entered, a red-haired woman close behind. Luke saw Roganda and smiled. "Not yet?"

"No, Skywalker. Not yet. But you'd probably know that better than I would." Roganda paused and took a sip of the caf, glanced at the medic beside her. "Thank you, Ailee."

Ailee smiled. "You're welcome." She stood up, nodded to Luke. "How's the hand?"

Luke was tempted to roll his eyes. "Fine, thank you."

"Good. Don't go breaking out of any more sheds, now." And with that, she smirked at his put-upon expression and left the three of them alone in the waiting room.

Mara watched her go, then glanced at Luke in question. "Breaking out of a shed? What does that have to do with your hand?"

"Artoo guided me through how to get out... using only what I had at the time." He held up his prosthetic hand. "This."

A chuckle interrupted them, and they both turned to look at Roganda. "I was wondering just how it was that Calrissian knew you were there when one of them related the story to me. Luke?"

"What?"

"Don't ever wait three months to fix your hand again. That's probably why our friend the medic brought it up... medical incompetancy and all that." She stared hard at Mara, feeling something familiar about her. "And who are you?" She had a feeling she knew the answer, but it was best to be sure.

Luke took a moment to realize they'd not met before, then felt sheepish. "Oh. Mara, this is Ganda Janson. Ganda, this is Mara Jade."

"I'm going to tease Han mercilessly once he's calmed down enough from the baby high to care," Roganda muttered as she stood up and presented her hand to Mara. "Not 'Ganda.' Roganda Ismaren-Janson."

Mara smiled as she shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Roganda. Ganda?"

"Solo."

The explanation made more sense than the shortened name did. "Ah."

Luke sighed. "It never seemed to bother you before."

"I can't make a big deal just once?"

As they all sat down in various chairs, Luke found himself nodding. "Of course you can." And he was grateful that she was making light of the situation. "So really. No word?"

Roganda glanced at the wall chrono. "It's been ten hours. No word." And as she studied Mara out of the corner of her eye, Roganda realized exactly why she felt familiar: put this woman in quietly formal clothing, a few years younger, less experience in life showing on her face… and it was the Emperor's Hand, on of them, sitting across from her. "What took you so long to get here?" And if she was right, what were they doing together?

"Got held up on Berchest, and then we stopped at a space port on the way back," Luke explained as he turned to look at Mara curiously. "What exactly did you shatter that wall with, anyway? You said something about a technique, but..."

Mara hesitated, thinking about the answer. "He said it was a way to focus on the inner self. To manipulate energy inside the way we do on our environment on the outside. I don't remember the exact word he used for it… Key, maybe?"

"And you knew this person how long?"

"Couldn't have been more than a week or two. Don't remember what his name was, but he kept saying that he was trying to find his home, that it was on an island and he could see mountains from the living room." Here, she frowned. "And also something about a curse. That part still doesn't make sense."

Roganda cleared her throat, grabbing Mara's attention. "What happened on Berchest?"

"We infiltrated an Imperial stronghold… why are you telling me to shush?" Luke stared at Roganda, as she suddenly started making emphatic shushing motions.

"Tell later. It can wait." She leaned closer to both of them. "There's a leak and we're not certain where from. Ghent's still trying to narrow it down, but better safe with the intel than sorry later."

Mara frowned at her. "Ghent's still here?"

"Karrde's been busy and we've needed the help."

Mara nodded slowly, accepting the reality of that answer. It made sense, especially if Karrde had been on Berchest when they were. Plus, it appeared that Ghent was where he was most needed. The longer she was in the presence of this woman, the more familiar she felt. Almost as if… "Have we met before?"

"It's likely," Roganda told her vaguely. "I was an... entertainer here once."

Luke caught the hesitation and wondered, not for the first time, what kind of life Roganda had lived before she'd run into Han while he was on a cargo run for the Alliance. A tingle of pain, different in nature from what he'd been feeling from Leia off and on for hours, caught his attention and he couldn't help but shiver uncontrollably.

Mara noticed and turned to really look at him. "Are you cold?"

"No. Leia…"

Roganda smiled. "I wondered how being twins would manifest in situations like this. Don't worry. It's transition."

"The shivering?"

"Yes." Roganda glanced at Mara momentarily, noting that she was staring at her shaking hands. Had that started with Luke's shivering? Mara noticed her looking and put her hands behind her back against the wall, out of view. "Shouldn't be too long now."

"How do you know…" Mara wondered, and the question died on her lips as a shadow seemed to cross Roganda's face and she looked away.

Silence descended on the waiting room as the three of them waited.


	11. Chapter 11

The silence hung in the waiting room like a thick blanket as the three of them sat there in the chairs. Finally, Mara couldn't stay sitting any longer and stood up, stretching as she did so.

Roganda glanced at her, unsure of her next words, but knowing she couldn't just leave it at that. "It was a long time ago."

Luke turned to look at her, curious as to what she meant. "What was?"

"She asked how I knew. The answer is: it was a long time ago. Before Hoth. Before I ran into Solo and Chewie on my way to a medical facility." She paused, taking in the honest curiosity in both faces. "Before I left Coruscant the first time, in fact."

Mara sat back down and mulled over the answer, trying to figure out what the woman was trying to say. "You..."

"Had a son. Had. That's how I know about the shivering." Roganda winced Luke's sudden frown. "What?"

"You never said anything about..." Luke trailed off, suddenly remembering stories he'd overheard from Wes about a woman punching an icy wall on Hoth, incoherent, blaming herself for something she wouldn't even talk about. He hadn't given it much thought at the time, because he'd gone out on patrol with Han shortly thereafter, but... "When you said 'had', what did you mean?"

Roganda wanted to look away from him, but found she couldn't. Not about this... no more running away and trying to pretend it didn't happen. "Exactly that. Had. As in don't have any longer."

"As in dead?" Mara asked, getting what Roganda wasn't saying and trying to be as careful as possible in the way she asked.

"Yes," she answered, the word spilling from her lips before she could stop herself. And there it was, laid out for both of them to see. "He died on the operating table... or under it."

Luke blinked, startled more than he thought he would be, and he felt the same from Mara a few feet away mirroring his own. "On... or under?"

Roganda knew he wasn't usually this dense, but a little leading in the right direction didn't hurt. "There was a ground quake. The building..." And maybe it was best if she lied... who would believe that a five year old child could have a seizure during surgery and cause a building to collapse? Not many.

Luke nodded slowly, understanding what she meant. He'd have said more, but a light flash caused him to blink... but no light had flashed anywhere in the waiting room. "Weird."

"What is?" Mara asked him.

"Either I'm seeing things, or Leia's projecting again." He waited, but the flash didn't come again. And then a feeling made him smile. "I think Han'll be out here shortly."

Roganda stayed silent, though she wanted to ask both of them some questions of her own. She could feel it between them the longer she spent in their presence, though they weren't sitting close together at all.

* * *

Han smiled down at Leia as she held one of their newly-born twin children. She was holding Jacen, letting him suckle for the first time, and Jaina was in his arms. A small sneeze brought his attention back to the baby girl snuggled in his arms. "She looks like you."

Leia smiled back at him, wanting to grimace a little bit at the unfamiliar sensations as Jacen fed. "And he has your eyes."

For the first time in twelve hours, something occurred to him that had nothing to do with the children currently in their arms. "Do you think she's still out there in the waiting room?" Roganda had been on guard for days, saying that she was their personal guard until further notice. It had come in handy when Leia had gone into labor, helping him get her to walk to the medical suite with little fuss. He hadn't thought about it since.

Leia blinked at him, surprised for a moment at the subject change. Then she focused outward past the walls... and blinked again at who she found. "Luke's out there, too. And that Jade woman is with him. Go tell them?"

Han slowly laid Jaina in the bedside baby bed. Then he leaned down to kiss Leia tenderly. "Be right back."

Leia smiled at him again. "Okay."

* * *

Mara looked up when someone joined them, half expecting it to be that medic again, and sort of surprised when it wasn't. "Solo."

Han, for his part, looked worn out but also elated and happy. He nodded to Mara before focusing on Luke. "You want to come back and see your niece and nephew?"

Luke shared a glance with Mara, questioning with his eyes, and when she nodded, he looked Han in the eyes. "Actually, I think Roganda should."

Han frowned at him, but turned his attention to the woman who had appointed herself their personal guard for the past several days. He'd nearly forgotten that fateful first encounter, and the little boy who wouldn't talk to him. The little boy she'd lost in a rain of debris. Luke was right, and later he'd be asking how his brother-in-law knew it would do her good. "Roganda?"

She looked up at him from her hands. "What?"

"Come on."

She looked at Luke, who nodded at her to go with Han. "You're sure?"

Luke nodded again. "Yes." Slowly, uncertain, she stood up and followed Han back to Leia's room.

Mara glanced at Luke as they were left alone in the waiting room. She wanted to say something, but words wouldn't come. Maybe words just weren't needed.

* * *

Roganda carefully entered the room behind Han, suddenly very uncomfortable at being anywhere near Leia and the twins. She wanted to run all the way back to the waiting room and stay there. Han turned to her, and she knew he wouldn't let her do even that. Not from the expression on his face... comforting, but steely and determined. "Small steps?"

"Exactly that," he said as he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her to Leia's bedside where she was holding one of the twins. "Luke thought Ganda should come back first."

Leia nodded and held Jacen so she could see him better, and Roganda tried to smile. Tried to, but the expression froze at seeing his face. "This is Jacen."

Han gently lifted Jaina out of the baby bed and let Roganda see her. "And this is Jaina. Would you like to hold her?"

Roganda started to shake her head no, but the encouraging expression in his eyes made her hold out her arms instead. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. As he handed Jaina over, Roganda felt muscle memory take hold and then she was holding the baby girl as if it hadn't been eleven years and a tragedy between moments. It had been a literal lifetime between then and now, and right now, the child in her arms had her full and undivided attention. "Hi there, Jaina." The baby girl opened her eyes and peered up at her for a moment, then sighed and closed her eyes again. Roganda glanced up at Han, who was watching her closely, and smiled. "Think she likes me?"

"I don't see why not..." He seemed to want to ask her something, but chose silence instead as she gently passed the babe back to him.

"I'll send Luke back," she told him. Then she nodded courteously to Leia and left the room. She knew what he was trying to do, what Luke and Mara had been trying to do, and it had helped a little, but nothing was as simple as that. And besides, there was a security detail she needed to attend to, people to relieve, and Leia's brother was a Jedi. She was pretty sure Luke would be in Leia's general vicinity for a while... even if that meant he was camping out on her couch once he heard it from Han the reasons why she had been sitting watch in the waiting room.

* * *

Luke looked up as Roganda came back into the waiting room, and was relieved to see her somewhat more at ease. She nodded to him. "What now?"

"Go and see your family, Skywalker." She turned to leave, but turned back to look at him. "And you remember those kidnap attempts that Thrawn tried before?"

"What about it?"

"Don't go far."

Luke was puzzled about that statement as she walked out. Wasn't his reach limited? "Right..." The sooner he talked to Han about that one, the better. Standing up, he turned to Mara. "Want to go with me?"

Mara shook her head. "No. It's a family moment. Go."

"You might as well be."

"Stop pushing, Luke."

Luke paused, taking in her put-upon expression and what he could feel from her. "Sorry. Didn't think I was."

She sighed. "Well, you were. Obviously."

Luke decided not to push the issue further and left to go back and see his family... though he still felt divided. It was good to include people, especially if there was a bond like this, right?

* * *

Leia felt him before she saw him enter the room, and she smiled as Luke sat down in a chair on her other side. Han was holding Jacen now, and she was nursing Jaina. "When did you get back?"

"An hour or two ago," Luke told her, smiling.

"How was the mission?" Han asked.

Luke rolled his eyes, all the wind seeming to go out of his sails as he looked at them tiredly. "Can we talk about that later?"

"Definitely," Han told him, walking around the bed and carefully placing Jacen in his arms. "This is Jacen. Leia's got Jaina."

Leia thought Luke looked younger in that moment... almost as if the years had peeled away, as if his guard had come down. She blinked, not having realized it had been up to begin with. Had it really been so long since he'd barged, wide-eyed, into her cell on the Death Star? At times like this, it sure felt like it. She started to say something, but thought the better of it when she caught sight of Han's face. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

For here, and for now... nothing really needed to be said.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: With the gentle encouragement of more than three people, one of them my bored nephew who was in a play called Miss Nelson Is Missing... I bring you all this update.

* * *

In the end, it wasn't Leia or Han who broke the silence. It was Luke, still studying the infant boy in his arms. "Roganda said something about kidnapping attempts. And then warned me not to go very far."

Han blinked and looked at Leia, who waved him on tiredly. "She had some kind of a dream or something that shook her up so bad she had security move our furniture to a more protected location in the palace. I'm not surprised she'd be vague about it to you."

Luke nodded. He understood very well about being shaken up by the Force. He also knew that Roganda didn't like to talk about her senses, either... probably for the same reason that she didn't talk about her past before arriving on Hoth with Han: it hurt to think about. That part was a little clearer now. "And?"

"And what? She has everybody on guard."

Luke finally looked up at Han, then at Leia, watching him with tired interest. There was something he wanted to ask, but it was going to sound ridiculous no matter how he phrased it. "How did you know?"

"Know?" Leia wondered, frowning in evident confusion. "About what?"

"About how you felt about each other." He felt amusement virtually crackle beside him, and sighed. "It's not funny, Han."

Han chuckled. "Sure it is. You're asking us for relationship advice? Kid, when I knew isn't the point. Eventually, we both knew. And that's enough."

Luke stared at him for a few seconds before looking at Leia in question. "And the answer to my question is... what?"

"Me kissing you to make him jealous," Leia told him honestly. "And, really... it was before that. There are no simple answers there, Luke. Just a betting pool that was horribly inaccurate."

"You knew about the betting pool?" Luke wondered after staring at her for a minute.

Leia rolled her eyes and looked down at Jaina, still nursing fitfully. "The Alliance wasn't that big, nor am I blind or deaf." She smiled as Han chuckled again. "And why are you asking?"

"Curiosity."

Han shook his head and put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "No it isn't just plain old curiosity. What happened out there, Kid?"

Luke met his gaze squarely. "Not much, other than getting information from a clone that probably means nothing, but we did get it, so..." He frowned. "And it's too late to ask Ben, but would curing someone of the influence of a voice in their minds cause other things? It's weird."

Han looked at Leia again, questions in his eyes and on his tongue. "You might want to explain that one, Luke."

"I helped Mara get rid of Force-implanted suggestion."

Leia sat up straighter and winced, regretting the motion. "What?"

"And that's where it gets intriguing. It was telling her to kill me, she didn't want to, and, eventually, she let me help her... and then I meditated on the way to Berchest and saw something odd, and I think she saw something of her own, and... now I'm confused and the only thing I can pin it down on is removing that influence." Luke met Leia's confused gaze, then looked at Han. "That was a bit much to spring on you both right now, but you did ask..."

Han blinked again, trying to process it all. From what he knew of the mind... which wasn't much, but he could kind of understand where Luke was coming from. Kinda. "It probably could have. Maybe there's a dataspool somewhere that wasn't destroyed with that kind of information."

* * *

In the waiting room, Mara was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, trying to make sense of the information that she'd pried from that clone on Berchest. It didn't add up, for the clones to be coming from a large facility that the Republic didn't know about... and, from what she knew, Jedi had worked closely with clones during the Clone Wars, so normal, naturally-produced clones didn't have that weird resonance. These weren't normal, and the presence of Ysalamiri around the birthing chambers likely had something to do with that. Also, there weren't enough of them for the facility to be a known one, or at least she didn't think there was.

That left a couple possibilities... a facility on a planet in a core-ward system, or something else. And she kept coming back to Berchest. That part was important, but she needed a star chart to make certain.

Wait. A star chart.

Mara's eyes flew open, suddenly realizing she knew the answer, at least partly, to the puzzle. A trip she'd taken once with Palpatine where he didn't let her fly or plot courses the entire way there, or the entire way home.

Noise drew her attention to the hallway outside the waiting room, and she saw a young woman walk by with trays on a hover cart. The noise was the woman's shoes... very squeaky shoes.

A moving image floated up of a young girl in the middle of chaos seeing someone about to stick a knife in someone else's back, and the girl attacked them, knocking them out cold, and Mara blinked, at once winded and worn out, as if she'd been right there in the thick of it. She took several deep and calming breaths, concentrating on the faint sound of still-squeaking shoes. What had that been? She'd never seen those people before.

Shrugging it off, Mara got herself back to the situation at hand. That being the clone problem that she kind of knew the answer to.

* * *

"This is crazy," the man across from her muttered as they played a distracted round of Sabbac. Distracted, because neither one was actually concentrating on the game.

Roganda wanted to laugh at him for stating the obvious. She'd thought that very same thing on multiple occasions over the past week. "At least everyone is attempting to humor the not-so-crazy notion that a Grand Admiral would attempt something so underhanded as a clandestine kidnapping."

He laid down a card. "Right. Sure you don't want to go check on them?"

Roganda studied her cards, uncertain of what to answer the laid down card with. "Very. This is more important... Wasn't your wife supposed to join us, Darvis?"

"She was going to, but decided to catch up on studying and comm Saccoria instead."

Roganda frowned at that... not that it was odd for a Saccorian and a Corellian to get together, but the argument matches she'd been privy to on more than one occasion made a lot more sense now. "Sacorria?"

"All the talk about babies recently made her homesick."

"Oh."

"And she's not had the chance to call home in a while, so..."

Roganda nodded as he trailed off. "Perfect time to call, hmmm?"

"Yes," Darvis said as he studied his cards and laid another one down. "I'll probably lose this round."

"Doubt it. I lose to Solo frequently."

Darvis snorted, unable to contain the full-bellied laugh it otherwise would have been. "Why'd you want me on the security detail, anyway? Strickly speaking, I'm not on the palace security staff."

Roganda smiled half-heartedly as she laid another card down. If nothing else, the patterns were pretty. "Because I don't want to be caught by surprise by nothing and you have something most of the other people on the detail do not. Force senses and a lightsaber."

"Roganda..."

"What?"

"I've never been trained to use either and I only carry the saber because my mother told me to." As she stared at him incredulously, Darvis looked away. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why not? At least part of that was a lie."

He blinked and looked at her again. "What makes you say that?"

"Because no one carries a contraband weapon for the simple reason of 'my mother told me to' when it could quite possibly get them killed if caught by Imperials. Try again."

Darvis sighed as he stared at the cards in his hands for a minute to two before raising his head to meet her gaze squarely. "Have you ever had a vision? Where you never experienced something, it was impossible to know what you knew, but it was so real you tasted it like bacta on your own breath for days afterward?"

Now it was Roganda's turn to stare at him, because he'd hit the nail on the head. She had, in fact. "That's sort of why we're sitting here right now."

"Well... That is why I carry a lightsaber which my parents risked their lives and their cover to send me the parts for. Because I had a repeated nightmare." He looked away again. "There are things worse than Imperials potentially finding out that I carry a lightsaber I don't completely know how to use."

Roganda continued to stare at him, stunned at the admission and uncertain what to say in the face of so much unspoken and admitted tension. What had he seen?

"Roganda?" Darvis asked after a minute or two of silence.

"Yes?"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the door being kicked in, and Roganda swore a blue streak as they both swung into action and made short work of the six or so intruders. When the last one was knocked out, Darvis turned to stare at her, panting hard. "I know where I learned hand to hand combat, but... where did you?"

As she bent down, Roganda studied the intruders. The emblems and faces were familiar when she pried at least one of the helmets off. "Can't explain that."

"What?"

"Need to know. You don't." She glanced up at him. "Call your wife. Get her here."

Darvis blinked at the subject change. "Why?"

"Because she's a medic and we just knocked people unconscious... and I kind of got carried away. Hate kidnappers." She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Nice moves... and after you call Ailee, inform the NRI that we intercepted an attempt."

"Why not palace security?"

She motioned to the downed intruder whose helmet she was holding. "Because the NRI is better equipped to deal with this idiot than palace security."

"Right."

* * *

The message had been simple: an address and _"I know you're off duty, sweetheart, but now is not the time for semantics. Bring your medical kit, okay?"_ And so, here she was, hurrying to get there with a medical kit under her arm and wondering just why he needed her to bring one.

Ailee entered the suite to find six people unconscious on the floor and had to stop to stare. There went all her theories of what it could possibly have been... Then she blinked and looked at her husband. "Did either of you hurt yourselves doing that?"

Darvis shook his head knowingly. "May have more than a few brusies, but no otherwise."

"Good." As she bent down to start examining the unconscious people, Ailee shook her head. "Binding their hands and feet is a bit much, don't you think?"

"No," Roganda told her succinctly. "They'd have done the same thing... if they'd left us alive, that is."

Ailee nodded. "As long as you had a good reason for knocking people out and potentially giving them concussions, I won't argue the point. Not that there is a point, really."

"Sure there is. We aborted a kidnapping..."

Ailee glanced up from her cursory examination to find that Roganda was staring at nothing, eyes distant. "Um..."

Darvis motioned her to silence. "Don't. Ask later."

~*~*~

_She was ten years old and wandering through the palace gardens when she heard someone crying. Frowning, she went a little farther into the gardens in search of the source of the noise. It was so odd to hear anyone crying, especially here. _

_There, by that blue flowering plant, was a red-haired little girl. She couldn't have been more than five or six years old. And she was staring at the blossoms. _

_Slowly, she approached the girl and sat carefully down next to her. "Hey."_

_Startled, the girl turned and liked at her with wide, green eyes. "Different."_

_"What's different?"_

_"Knew before... strange old man. Didn't want to play." She blinked, appearing to be very dazed. "Where is here?"_

_"What?"_

_"Knew. Then didn't." She turned back to look at the blossoms. "Pappa's project. Still pretty."_

_The ten year old was left to stare as one of her Master's assistants showed up and bodily carried the little girl off. What in the...?_

Roganda blinked, shocked and stunned... she recognized that child. No wonder Mara felt familiar. She'd known. Known... what?

"Roganda?" Darvis asked, his tone cautious but inquisitive.

"It had to be the blossoms." She looked to find Darvis and Ailee staring at her. "What?"

"What blossoms?" Darvis wondered.

Roganda sighed, trying to figure out a way to phrase it that wouldn't make them think her crazy. She was mostly certain she knew what the blossoms were: a component of an antibacterial powder used for basic first aid in the field. "Ailee?"

"Yes?"

"How much do you know about psychology in children?"

Ailee grunted under her breath as she stood up and moved to her next patient. "Enough to know that they aren't natural liars... and as I don't have a medical degree here on Coruscant, I also can't give you medical advice."

"But you do have one, and that's why I ask you. It's speculation more than it is real medical."

"Fine. Ask away."

"A child doesn't naturally get amnesia, right? Sort of 'I knew before. Knew. Then didn't. Know again.'"

Ailee shook her head. "No, not naturally. And that sounds like shock to me. As if something were forgotten and then remembered again in a split second."

Roganda considered what she knew about other children who had lived in the Imperial Palace at that time... none of the others whom she'd met had ever shown even the remotest signs of induced amnesia. Except one. And that one did something no one else had done: spoken of parents. Roganda herself knew she was an orphan, hidden and then found by a darksider who worked for Palpatine. She'd had no parents to speak of for a very long time and Palpatine had become family. That is, if it was normal for every family to plan to take over the universe. "Maybe that was the case. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for someone to have been made to forget while undergoing training."

Darvis cleared his throat. "Training that involves brainwashing?"

"Careful Darvis. That's my childhood you speak of rather callously." When he didn't reply, she glanced at him to find he was staring. "What? You asked earlier where I learned to fight."

"Well, yes, but... brainwashing?"

The intruder on the floor whom Ailee was examining groaned and opened his eyes to find her looking at him very dispationately. "What hit me?"

Ailee's eyebrows went up. "Why don't you let us worry about that, hmm? Also, by order of New Republic Justice, the six of you are hereby arrested for attempted kidnapping."

"Ailee, honey?"

"Yes?"

"That was my line."

"I can't make a citizen's arrest every now and then?"

"Oh, you can. I love it when you act all macho." Darvis came to her side and peered down at the guy. "Think we should get them down to medical?"

"Eventually. Want to hear the rest of Roganda's story first."

"Not much to tell," Roganda admitted. "Walked in on a little girl crying. Little girl was all confused about why she suddenly knew something and where here was, and wouldn't stop looking at... I think they're called Neandran Blossoms. Blue flowering plant native to Naboo. I think. It's been a while since basic botany."

Ailee nodded. "It's a component of an anti-bacterial powder used in the field. Some biologists on Naboo discovered the properties of the plant about twenty years ago, right before or right after the end of the clone wars. The powder has been in infrequent use ever since."

"Have some in my pocket," the guy on the floor put in helpfully.

Ailee regarded him, amused. "You have a lot of pockets. Remember which?"

"Got knocked around a bit. So no. I don't."

"Shush, then, and let us talk." Ailee returned her gaze to Roganda. "Well? What does a plant from Naboo have to do with... oh. I get it. A trigger."

"Ailee, is this the same as your fear of stuffed animals?" Darvis suddenly wondered.

Ailee turned and glared up at him. "No. And if you love me, you'll convince your mother to get rid of that holo."

"I love you, but she finds it amusing and has shot that suggestion down more then ten times."

Ailee rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to Roganda. "Well?"

"Flowers trigger amnesia?"

"There are stranger things." Ailee paused, made a face. "Not many that I can think of off hand, but you know what I mean. What brought that memory to mind just now?"

Roganda paused. She'd been wondering that herself. "I'd been mulling over why someone felt familiar. Someone who didn't 'feel right' the last time I saw them, now suddenly feels right and familiar. But it's the same person and that makes no sense."

Darvis frowned pensively, mulling that over as he looked down at Ailee. "Could a person's memory affect how other people see them through other senses."

"I don't see why it wouldn't work that way, but maybe you should wake Moira later to ask her because Force philosophy her area of expertise. I don't know enough." She frowned down at the man silently listening with mild interest. "I'd ask you, sir, but you're a prisoner."

"Don't know," the man told her honestly. "Brain hurts just thinking about it."

Ailee chuckled. "At least you're honest about that, if nothing else."

"Thanks," he said. "Can someone help me up? Floor's not all that comfortable."

Roganda looked at Darvis. "What do you think? Should we get them up off the floor and down to the NRI-Secured medical wing?"

"The what?" the man on the floor asked. So far, he was the only one to have woken up.

"Don't ask the questions if the answers are worse than where you are right now," Darvis told him, and the man stared at him defiantly. "What? You and your companions attacked us in an effort to kidnap two infant children. Anything that happens to you now which is relatively nice is generous of us."

"On second thought, I love the floor."

"Thought you might."

"What kind of carpeting is this? Plush?"

Roganda rolled her eyes at his antics, suddenly very tired of playing word games. "You were going to frame someone, weren't you, Quest?"

Quest peered up at her, having just realized something else: that he'd been had far worse than he thought he had. "Roganda?"

"You're an idiot." She looked at Darvis. "I don't know about the other five, but this guy..." Here she bent down and slapped Quest across the face. "You didn't know I was here. That is your only saving grace, Sarcev."

"Roganda?" Ailee asked slowly. "Who is he?"

"A former personal agent of Palpatine, now apparently attached to Thrawn's fleet." She leaned closer and whispered something in his ear that Ailee couldn't hear, which shocked him speechless. Then she pulled away and glared at him. "And this is far better than you deserve." She stood up, peering at Darvis as the NRI team finally arrived. "Believe nothing they say, but record it all for pertinence. Whomever they were going to implicate is innocent."

"Traitor," Quest spat at her.

"I'm not the one laying bound on the floor of a dummy apartment."

* * *

Later, after they'd gotten the commandos and Quest situated in separate and guarded medical cells, Darvis was left standing with Roganda in the corridor. "How do you know that guy?"

"It's a long story," Roganda told him curtly. "Times like this, what I wouldn't give for denial."

"That's not an answer," he carefully told her. "You loved him?"

"I didn't know what love was at the time. Didn't really know for a while afterward. Years... and even then, someone had to lead me to it and show me with a demonstration." She glanced down the hall to the door behind which part of her past was held. "They're going to want to keep him partially sedated. Muddled so he can't use his abilities."

Darvis nodded, accepting that answer. "Who do you think they were trying to implicate?"

"Simple. Who does Thrawn know is here and is formerly Imperial but also innocent? Due to certain factors, and the fact that I never met Thrawn, it isn't me."

"I can honestly say I don't know."

"I do. Mara Jade."

"And you said she's innocent."

"She is... and I'm not just saying that because she's been spending all her time with Skywalker, either. I can feel the differences between her right now, and Quest. It's staggering."

Darvis stared at her for a moment, a little startled at what she was implying, and what was going unsaid. "Would you be offended if I said you're terrifying right now?"

"Not at all... and I apologize for acting like espionage is all I think about. Hasn't been for a long, long time." She made a face. "Some things... entirely too natural to fall back on."

"How long has it been? Since you saw him, I mean?"

Roganda looked again down the hallway. "Since before Hoth. Feels like a lifetime ago."

"Sort of was," Darvis agreed, understanding as best he could.

Roganda nodded. "Yes. Come on. There's a talk we need to have with Solo and Skywalker and Jade."

"There is?"

"Yes." She turned to him, smiling suddenly. "And I think I just answered my own question."

"About?"

"Feeling the differences in a person with the Force."

"Oh."

"You could still call your mother and ask her about it if you want to."

A hearty chuckle followed them all way to the lift.


	13. Chapter 13

Mara was pouring over star charts, ignoring him and any attempt made by Luke to start a conversation. She'd been not wanting to talk ever since she'd sat down at the Solo's kitchen table, saying she might know the answer to the clone problem, but needed a little time to see if she was right or not.

So he just sat across from her and watched. She was quite beautiful when she was concentrating on something.

He was so lost in watching her that he missed the door chime going off.

* * *

When Han answered the door, the last person he expected to see was Roganda, in a state of almost invisible and unbridled emotional turmoil. He stared at her for a moment, wondering what was wrong. He hadn't seen her that upset since she'd punched an icy wall on Hoth repeatedly. "Um... wait here."

Roganda blinked as he closed the door again, then turned to look at Darvis in puzzlement. "That was odd. Do I seem upset to you?"

Darvis wisely said nothing, and was saved from responding by Han reopening the door and coming out into the hallway with Luke.

"Come on. Mara agreed to stay while we go and let Roganda kick something."

"Han-" Roganda protested, stopping when he shook his head. "What?"

"I promised. Now let's go."

* * *

They were standing in a workout room that Luke had set up for the purpose of helping Leia to train, Roganda regarding the punching bag with distaste. "This may come as a shock, but I don't want to punch anything, least of all Luke's punching bag."

"We're not doing anything else until you let all of that out," Han told her. "Look at it this way: it's better than kicking rocks or punching ice."

Roganda wanted to roll her eyes at him, but didn't because he was right. Of all the times to keep his word... it had to be now? She turned and looked at Darvis, glanced at Luke, then looked at Darvis again. Finally, she held out a hand. "Can I use it?"

"What?" Darvis asked, still confused by Han Solo wanting Roganda to hit something.

"That thing you carry which you don't know how to use."

"Oh." Here Darvis fished his lightsaber out of a hidden pocket in his pants and handed it to her, surprising Luke. "Sure. Want it back."

"You carry a concealed lightsaber?" Luke wondered, looking at the man he'd dismissed at a glance with new eyes.

"Long story."

"Ah." Luke paused, took in the expression on Roganda's face, and suddenly wanted to run very far away and stay where ever it was. Would Endor be far enough away? "You can't exactly go hacking away at the walls, you know."

"Wasn't planning to, Jedi. Spar with me?"

Make that Bakura. He wondered very briefly if Gaeriel would mind if he camped out at her house... "Is that what you want?"

"Yes." Her tone would have frozen any water left on Tatooine.

"Then we spar." Why did he suddenly get the feeling that he was going to be very, very sore later on?

As Luke unhitched his saber and Roganda turned the borrowed one on, Han leaned over to Darvis, asking with a chuckle... "Orange?"

"Wife's favorite color."

If it hadn't been for the seriousness of the situation, Han would have outright laughed.

* * *

Mara was still studying star charts when Leia came into the kitchen and carefully joined her at the table. "Should you be up?"

"A person can only lay in bed so much before it becomes tedious," Leia told her curtly. "Any progress with those?"

Mara shook her head. "Not really." A wave of apprehension rolled over her and Mara winced. "What was that?"

Leia felt something register, but not as strongly. She looked down at her arms to realize that she was getting goosebumps. "I... don't know."

A mental image of Roganda with an orange lightsaber in her and flashed across the bond, and Mara blinked. "Oh. I'd be apprehensive, too, if someone looked that upset while holding a lightsaber." She reached out, wondering... _What are you doing?! I thought she was going to punch something!_

_Mara, can you not yell at me while I'm trying to concentrate? She didn't want to punch anything,_ Luke sent back, his mental voice seeming out of breath. _And don't worry. She doesn't have my experience with a blade, but... ow... Han's right. If she doesn't let it out, whatever it is... it wouldn't be good._

Mara winced. _R__ight... Careful, Farmboy. Want you in once piece._The mental grin he sent back made her smile as she turned to Leia. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Just enough to understand that something hit a nerve," Leia replied with a frown. "Remind him that she's physically dangerous when uncontrollably upset."

Mara nodded. _Luke, Leia wants to remind you to be very, very careful. I know you're very aware of that fact right now, but..._

_Duly noted,_he sent back.

A third voice broke in, seething: _I'm not going to hurt him! If I'd wanted to do that, this would have been hand to hand instead!_

"Was that Roganda?" Leia wondered, blinking in confusion.

"I'd guess yes." And Mara suddenly blushed, realizing just what Roganda could have overheard. Looking at Leia, she wondered if the woman quite realized why it was that she could connect so easily with Luke. "I want him in one piece... as a friend."

Leia rolled her eyes in a very unsenatorial manner. "You two were outed to Han and I already, Mara. Luke isn't subtle enough to fool me, and he never just asks anything out of curiosity, least of all about romantic things."

Mara stared at her, eyes wide. He'd done WHAT?! She was half-tempted to yell mentally in his ear again, just out of spite. "But I'm not even sure if what I'm feeling is real or not..."

"And why is that?"

Was she actually having a discussion on her feelings with Leia Organa Solo? It was enough to boggle the mind. "Did he tell you why he was asking?"

"Not really. But now I'm expecting an explanation from you." And Leia sat back, gazing at her expectantly. "Well?"

"There was an accident in a shuttle, we got thrown together, and now we're bonded. It happened so fast, I'm still not certain what to think of it." Mara shook her head, glancing upward instinctively to where they must have gone to help Roganda work out her issues. "And ever since... I don't know. Part of me wants it, wants to just let him in, and..."

"Part of you wants to push him away?" Leia finished for her.

"I... yes."

Leia nodded. "I think I understand." She was stopped from saying more when Winter entered the kitchen with one of the twins in her arms and gave the baby to Leia. "You don't have to be here, you know."

Winter smiled. "Like I'd want to be anywhere else right now?" She nodded to Mara and sat down in another chair at the table. "What with Rogue Squadron out on assignment, it's too quiet at home."

Leia frowned at her, then glanced upward at the ceiling. "I was wondering why it didn't feel right when Han said he was going to let Roganda kick something. I clean forgot that Janson isn't within three systems of here."

"Huh?" Mara asked, completely thrown both by a flash of a quick but artful parry from Luke, and the subject change.

"We all deal with stressors in different ways," Winter said, winking at Mara, who blinked. At that, Mara needed no further explanation.

"And Mara?" Leia prompted, waiting until Mara was looking at her. "Don't worry about how wrong it might feel to let him in. Just... wait and see. If you want it, if it's right, if it's supposed to be... you'll know."

"And if it isn't?"

"Deal with that when and if the time comes."

Mara frowned at her. "You're trusting me with your brother?"

"Since it wasn't you that actually wanted to kill him... yes." The baby in Leia's arms gurgled for attention and Leia looked down to find Jaina toothlessly smiling up at her. "Somehow, I think Jaina agrees."

Mara nodded, accepting Leia's words of comforting advice. She wasn't even certain if the baby really knew what they were talking about, but the thought was nice. She felt a twinge of concerned relief and wondered what was going on with her maybe-boyfriend.

* * *

When the steam finally vanished from her sails, Roganda had deactivated the lightsaber and sat down. Hard. Panting, she didn't dare look up at the three men watching her carefully. She knew why she was upset, but to say it. To give a name to the pain, as it were... she didn't want to.

It was the gap between this moment, where she could deny that it happened, and the next, where denial was no longer an option... that gave her more than a little pause. She could feel Solo, quietly and insistently wondering what was up with the sudden need for a workout. Eventually, Roganda knew she'd have to spill or he wouldn't let her out of his sight, let alone give him useful information.

She heard Luke deactivate his saber and put it back where it belonged and wondered if he'd be up for more. He was right: she didn't have his experience with a blade, but emotional turmoil wasn't about having skill.

They formed a loose circle around her, waiting... "Lagan." And there it was. The one thing she didn't want to say, that the incident in the dummy apartment had reminded her of, that which had spurred her memory to the surface of being found by an inquisitor. "Lagan." She looked up to find Han sitting as close as he dared, watching her with concerned curiosity. "Lagan."

Han tilted his head a moment. "And who is Lagan?"

"Was."

"All right... who was Lagan?"

The words tumbled out before she could stop them. "My brother." She blinked, more memories surfacing that she didn't care to look at. "He was... killed."

Han glanced at Luke, then at the man she'd come to his door with that he didn't know. "Do you want these two to stay while you talk about it? Because we're not going anywhere until you do. You know that."

Of course she knew it. After she'd punched that wall and banged up her hands severely, they'd made an agreement: all emotional stuff was talked about thoroughly, no matter how trivial it seemed at the time. That was how he'd let her corner him right after they had rescued him from Jabba... because the same rules applied. "They can stay. And sit down, you two. No need to be formal and stand."

Han waited until Luke and Darvis were sitting before prompting her again. "Well?"

Where to start, Roganda wondered as she took a deep breath. "You know what I was, Solo. When you found me and my son. You know that."

"That you were a deep cover agent on a mission? Yes. You didn't hide it very well. What does that have to do with your brother being killed?"

She felt surprise coming off of Skywalker in waves and wondered why he found it shocking... and just how much of this conversation he was relaying to Jade. If he was, that is. Han cleared his throat, getting her back on track. "Right... when I was found... do you know what an Imperial Inquisitor is?"

"I think we can get the general idea, Ganda."

"The person who found us, where ever it was that we were, was an Inquisitor. For Palpatine. They killed Lagan and took me, and... I was lost. Corrupted, as it were." Now she spared a glance at Skywalker, to find him frowning. Interested, but frowning all the same. Did he know about Jade? Something in his face made her think he did, but she wasn't certain what it was. "We aborted a kidnapping attempt tonight, the one I saw that made me get the heebie-jeebies and alert everybody. That's what set me off and why I was upset."

Han snorted, and she returned her gaze to him. "You're still upset, but I think you have a right to be. Does that mean we can come off of your high-alert now?"

"No. Just that we averted an attempt. That might not be the only one." She nodded to the door of the room they were in. "But, unless I miss my guess... I think you'll have excellent bodyguards."

Han followed her eye line. "What makes you think that?"

"I sense someone. A couple of someones, really." She looked at Luke. "You're better at the sensing thing."

Luke turned his attention to the door. "They're not human... and they kind of remind me of Chewie. But they aren't Wookiees, either." He returned his attention to Roganda. "And that wasn't all of it. There's more."

For the love of Palpatine, she thought as Han turned back to glare at her mildly. She should have made him leave! "I wasn't even going to bring it up. I don't want to talk about it. All right?"

"Is it about that Quest guy you slapped?" Darvis wondered suddenly, and he blanched when she turned and glared at him murderously. "Oh."

"It's about Irek," Han said with quiet certainty. Of course he knew... he'd gotten that story out of her after the wall incident.

"Yes," she replied. "It was. That was why I slapped him. He deserves far worse. And leading a team to kidnap children? Gah!"

Han took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He knew who Quest had been to her, but assumed the man was dead or something. Apparently not. "It's no wonder that you gave Luke the 'sparring' session of his life, then." Glancing at Luke, his eyebrows went up in question. "You okay?"

"Fine."

Han didn't believe it for an instant.

* * *

Almost as soon as they were through the door of the apartment, Luke suddenly couldn't stop yawning. Han directed him to the couch, where Luke collapsed and immediately began to snore. Then he looked at Roganda. "And how about you? Whatever it is can wait until..."

Roganda tiredly rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine for a while, Solo, but the thought is appreciated." She suddenly remembered something and turned to Darvis, depositing the hilt into his hands. "You said you wanted it back. Here."

"Thank you," he told her sincerely and put it back into the pocket he'd taken it out of.

"Isn't it uncomfortable, to have one of those in your pants?" Han wondered idly.

"Takes practice," Darvis admitted.

Han nodded and led the two of them to the kitchen, where Mara, Leia, and Winter were still talking. "Figure anything out with those charts yet?"

"Not really," Mara told him. She frowned, noting there was someone missing. "Where's...?"

"Passed out on the couch, snoring," Han told her with a grin.

Mara nodded. She was at least glad to know why she'd needed to yawn repeatedly.

"We aborted an attempt," Roganda told Leia without further invitation. "And you seem to have picked up some bodyguards, too, but Luke couldn't I.D. them from mental contact."

Leia frowned. "Odd..."

Roganda turned to say something to Mara, but something from the Force stopped her in mid-thought. She wasn't supposed to say anything... and that confused her so much that she reached out and asked why. The answer she got back... was a picture of hazel eyes staring up at her in challenge. Hazel eyes set in a small face, almost as if she were looking down at a wrapped little one in her arms. Frowning, she shook her head. Was the Force trying to tell her that it wasn't time yet to say anything? Why not? The image refused to fade, and Roganda thought she understood. There was a time and a place for some things, and a reason. And now was not the time or the place. "Do you need help with those star charts?"

Mara looked at her oddly. "Only if you know where a storehouse of Spartti Cylinders would be kept, and if you'd been there as well."

At that, Roganda had to shake her head. "No."

"I do have the first hyperspace jump mapped, though."

That's something, Roganda thought as she sat down into an unused chair. She stifled a yawn, knowing it'd cause Solo to become concerned. "That's something, at least." She watched as Han plucked one of the twins out of Leia's arms, and wondered... what would Wes be like with children?


	14. Chapter 14

When Luke awoke, some hours later, he found Mara leaning against the couch with her eyes closed and a datapad in her hand. And then he heard her snoring softly, and realized that she must have fallen asleep. He smiled and tangled a strand of her red-gold hair around his finger, again marveling at how beautiful he was finding her in every circumstance.

"Oh, you're up," Han said as he entered the living room, two steaming cups in his hands. He paused, taking in both their positions. "Or one of you is..."

Luke wanted to laugh. "How long has she been sitting here like this?"

"Long enough," Han muttered as he handed one of the cups to Luke. "Feel better?"

"Mostly. Don't feel like I ran a marathon now." Luke took a careful sip. "What's up?"

"Leia figured out that it's the Noghri." Han sat down in a chair and sighed. "And that team which Roganda and that guy dealt with is in NRI custody. Oh, and Mara has the first jump mapped."

Luke blinked. The NRI? Noghri? "I was wondering why those presences reminded me of Wookiees... guess that answers that. And isn't the NRI overkill?"

"No."

Mara grunted and pulled away from his hand as she opened her eyes. "Stop playing with my hair, Luke."

"What if I like it?"

She turned and playfully glared at him. "Then thank you, but still... don't play with it."

Luke leaned in close, smiling at her. "Then I promise not to twizzle strands of your hair around a finger of mine, Mara."

Han cleared his throat, breaking the moment, and they both looked at him. "You have an audience."

Luke just rolled his eyes at his brother-in-law. So what if they had an audience... he wanted to tease her some more.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I didn't realize until after posting that I'd left the scene too soon... twice. And then I ended up only being able to write one paragraph at a time before I got thrown out of my own story repeatedly. Yes, I know that sounds weird. Writing can be just that way at times. So, if I left the scene too soon... who am I to argue with the muse? Enjoy. :)

* * *

Mara started to push his hand away, but upon seeing an amused expression on Han Solo's face, stopped. There was something slightly off here, starting with his amusement. "Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Who else knows besides your brother-in-law?" She knew the answer already, but it was a wanted change of conversation.

Luke stared at the back of her head, teasing momentarily forgotten. How did she make the connection that fast? "Leia does... more or less."

Han chuckled softly and Mara glared at him. "Roganda might. She's good at reading people."

Something occurred to her, and she glanced back at Luke. "Did you know she was Force-sensitive?"

"I suspected. Not the same as actually knowing."

Mara nodded slowly, mindful that his hand was still tangled in her hair. As much as she didn't want to admit it out loud, she sort of didn't mind him playing with her hair. She looked down at the datapad, contemplating the information displayed. There was something tickling at her memory again, and she made a few adjustments. Blinking, Mara raised her head and looked directly at Han. "I think I got it."

"That's good." He looked at Luke. "Go back to sleep. We'll deal with going on some kind of raid tomorrow."

"Not tired."

Mara laughed suddenly, startling them both. "Are so. That, or it's me that has to yawn every five minutes."

Han's eyebrows went up as he stared at Luke, who met his gaze evenly. "That Force bond thing of yours is better than a lie detector, it seems."

Luke finally gave up and allowed himself to physically yawn. "I'm fine. How long was I asleep for?"

"Four hours," Mara told him curtly. "You missed the twins being awake."

"Not to mention Ganda wanting to beat the tar out of something when she explained what set her off to Leia." Han shook his head thoughtfully. "I don't envy Janson when Rogue Squadron gets back here to Coruscant."

Luke paused, thinking about that... "And Leia's reaction to it was what?"

Han stared at him again. "Doesn't matter. You sleep, we'll talk later."

"I don't want to sleep, Han." And then, his body betraying him, he yawned again.

Mara held up a hand, forestalling Han from saying a word. This was getting them nowhere. "Does that healing thing of yours work both ways? Could I do it to you?"

"I... don't know."

"Then don't make me find out, Luke. You won't be missing much if you sleep for a couple more hours." She waited for him to relax, and soon he was snoring softly again behind her, his fingers still tangled in her hair.

Han looked at her inquisitively, a smile threatening to blossom on his lips. "How did you...?

"Simple: he hates missing things. Right?"

"Well... yes."

"That's how." Han reserved the right to be amused, if for no other reason than the fact that she made no move to liberate her hair of his hand. "And really, Solo. Go join your wife and embrace the world of the unconscious while you can."

Han shook his head. "Too wired to sleep."

She glanced up at him, realizing suddenly that the kidnapping attempt had probably upset him more than it had Roganda... which, considering the resumption of light snoring going on behind her, was probably saying a lot. "_No one_ is going to break in here and _try_ to steal your children. And even then, they have me and the exhausted Jedi here to contend with."

Han studied them, her leaning against the couch nonchalantly with Luke's fingers still entwined in her hair, and Luke himself, once again out like a light. While he still wasn't completely certain what Mara was capable of, he did know his brother-in-law. Especially when woken up out of a sound sleep by a battle alert. Cranky didn't even begin to cover it. Slowly, Han got up out of the chair and at last allowed himself to give in to the reflex to yawn. "When you're right, you're right."

Mara watched him go, fighting the urge to smirk. Adrenaline worked only so long, after all. She looked down at the datapad in her hands, wondering suddenly if the Solo's had any datafiles on botany.

Looking around, she noticed some flimsies and a pen on a desk that was set into a wall out of the way. Before she even really knew she was doing it, both were in her hands. Blinking in surprise, Mara glanced back at Luke, who was still snoozing. She didn't have a handle on her telekinesis before, not really, and now... it was automatic? "Strange."

Chalking it up to increased sensitivity and deciding to worry about it later, Mara switched the datapad off after saving the information, turned it over, and began to use the flat surface to draw. If she was going to be annoyed by images of plants, then at the very least she could draw it to show to other people.


	16. Chapter 16

Ailee was conducting an inventory when she heard someone with squeaky shoes behind her. She paused, staring down at the box of steri-strips in her hand, reflecting that these things always happened when she'd rather they didn't. "Can it wait?"

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask," the woman's amused voice told her.

Ailee turned to find Roganda standing there, a familiar lightsaber fastened to her belt. One that wasn't hers. "One weird thing a week is my limit. Your aborted kidnapping attempt thing was it."

"Ah. This isn't as odd as that."

Ailee chuckled. "Right. Help me do inventory and then I'll listen to whatever it is you want."

Roganda nodded and began to help her taken stock of the medical supplies. "Weird thing of the week?"

Ailee laughed now, and the tension seemed to evaporate. "I helped steal an Imperial Shuttle on a farming planet. Think about it."

Roganda paused and looked from the gauze rolls she was holding, to the medic, and back again. There were stranger things, but... "Right." Somehow, she got the feeling there was more to the story, but didn't want to pry. Much.

Soon enough, they were done with the inventory and Ailee turned to really look at Roganda. "So... what did you want to ask?"

"Do you have any of that first aide powder? I'd like some, just in case."

Ailee frowned and turned to a bin. She'd seen some of that... "Ah. Here it is." Turning back, she desposited five packets into Roganda's hands. "Why do you want it?"

"I tried to say what I suspected and the Force stopped me cold," Roganda told her honestly, knowing that it was wrong to lie to a medical person about something so rudimentary. "It's never done that before." She held up one of the packets. "So... the subtle approach it is."

Ailee frowned again. "The Force stopped you?"

Roganda nodded, smiling. "And as you are abstaining from the weird, I shall say no more."

"Thank you." Ailee paused. "You do know how to use that, right?"

"Sprinkle on open wounds to prevent infection, and keep out of the eyes if at all possible?"

"On closed ones, too. Glad you know." She watched as Roganda turned to leave. "He'll want it back, you know."

Roganda turned back to her, frowning. "Hmmm?"

"Darvis. He'll want it back."

Roganda glanced down, suddenly realizing what was hanging from her belt. "Oh. You're right."

"Do I want to know?"

"No."

Ailee watched her leave, considering that answer. She had a pretty good guess, but the rest of the inventory wasn't just going to do itself, and so she went in search of another supply closet. She almost bumped into another medic as she exited into the main triage area. "Hi. Sorry."

"What was that about?"

Ailee glanced at her fellow medical practitioner, then went to check the bins in the curtained areas. "Just a little bit of weekly weirdness to remind us all that the universe still has a sense of humorous irony."

"Ah." The woman stood there, watching as Ailee continued to do the inventory. Then she plucked the datapad out of her hands. "Come on."

Ailee sighed. "Give that back, please."

"No. The inventory was done already, and you are joining us for dinner."

Ailee stared at her. "Huh?"

"You were going to study for your boards and got called out instead, right?"

"Yes..."

The woman smiled. "Then we, the senior medical staff and I, are going to make it up to you and help you study. Over dinner."

"Oh." Did they really want her off of Emergency Flight Detail that badly? "Let's go, then."

* * *

She watched him from the entry way of the former Solo apartment, picking up the remnants of their fight with the invasion team. "You didn't have to come back here and clean up, Darvis."

He glanced up at her. "I helped make the mess. Might as well."

"Want some help?"

"Nah. Almost done."

She nodded and sat down in one of the chairs they'd left behind, waiting while he righted a few more things. "Talked to your wife before coming back here."

"Oh?"

"She seems to think you'll want this back."

Darvis finished what he was doing and turned to find her holding his lightsaber hilt. "She's right."

"And you handed it right back to me earlier. Care to explain?"

Darvis pulled a chair over and sat down. "I don't know how to use it. I watched you and Jedi Skywalker... spar... and it was like watching a dance in motion. I... want to learn to do that. From you."

She stared at him, for once at a loss for words. No one had ever made such a request of her. It was a scary thought, to try to train someone. Did she even deserve to be that person, to lead him on the path? "It's... Why?" She handed it to him, and he took it.

Darvis was silent for a long while, staring at the hilt in his hand as he turned it over and over trying to form a response worthy enough. Finally, he swallowed, took a breath. "When I built this, it was after I'd seen something no one should see. That I wasn't sure was real or not, that I woke up so dazed from that I asked Ailee if she was real." He glanced at her, eyes shining with unshed tears. "At that moment, reality was blurred. Afterwards, I used a secure, encrypted channel to comm my mother at CorSec headquarters on Corellia to relay to her the information. I don't know what was said between them, but they ended up sending me the parts to make this, saying I was ready. For what, the note didn't say. In fact, the next time I saw them, we didn't speak of it." He blinked and looked away, uncertain. "And now it feels right. Here. To talk about it with you."

Roganda stared at him. What he'd just confided would have gotten him killed during the height of the Imperial Rule. And yet... it did feel right. "Let me think about it, all right? It's not that I'm saying no, understand? It's that what you're asking... I don't know if I should. I have to be sure, before I do anything like this."

Darvis took another deep breath, nodding. He liked that answer. "Okay."

She glanced down, spotting the cards they'd used earlier on a box which had survived the invasion. Smiling, she pulled the box over and put it between them. "Up for another round?"

"Sure."

They played and talked for hours before finally heading home to their own apartments.

* * *

Leia awoke to her husband sleeping soundly next to her and immediately wanted to go back to sleep. It was still dark, early yet, but she felt like something was wrong. An awareness demanded her attention and she reached out, wondering how someone that small could use the Force so easily. It almost felt like a non-verbal form of crying.

Slowly extricating herself from Han's embrace, doing her best not to wake him, Leia got out of bed and made her way to the crib. There, laying in the darkness and looking back at her, was her wide awake infant son. "Hey there," she whispered as she gently picked him up. The baby gurgled at her as she first checked his diaper to find it wet and then changed him.

Then, with that task completed, Leia picked him up again and turned back to the crib. She looked down into it for a moment at a still-sleeping Jaina, looked down at her son, and shook her head. No. She wanted to hold him a while longer. Picking up a blanket from the changing table, Leia walked through the doorway of the bedroom after flicking the low-level light off, and made her way to the living room.

She paused in the doorway to watch Mara, drawing something on a flimsie, with Luke's fingers threaded through her hair. Leia took a moment to smile to herself. For someone whose initial impression had been all business and merchant-oriented, she'd never expected the woman to appear so... cute.

"You're not intruding," Mara suddenly said without looking up. Then she paused. "Um... is it because he's still got his fingers in my hair that I knew you were there?"

Leia moved to sit down, covering up with the blanket so she could nurse her son. She didn't know enough about the Force to be able to answer that one. "Don't know. What are you drawing?"

"As weird as it seems, a flower." Mara stared at the piece of flimsy for a moment before closing her eyes and tensing suddenly, as if she'd somehow been shocked.

Leia frowned as Mara grunted and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "Headache?"

"Yes." Even that one word was strained.

Leia glanced at Luke, wondering how he could sleep through it before remembering that he'd been very tired. "Mara, maybe..."

Mara shook her head. "It's fading. No need to wake him. I'd rather he slept now, anyway. It's really the first decent sleep he's had since Berchest."

Leia's eyes widened. "But that was days ago."

"And it wasn't just Roganda giving him the workout of his life that made him exhausted." Mara's posture slowly relaxed again, and she was left blinking in the aftermath. "He already was."

"And you?"

"Caught a nap or three here and there." Mara paused. "That is what you meant, right?"

"Yes."

Now, Mara frowned at her, at the blanket covering her and her son. "Are you cold?"

"No. Jacen's hungry," Leia told her with a smile. "Can I see?"

Mara held up the piece of flimsie for Leia to see, and Leia frowned again. The plant depicted there did seem familiar. "Recognize it?"

"Vaguely. I don't remember what it's called, but we had something very similar in the gardens on Alderaan." And the more Leia looked at it, the more she got the feeling that she was missing something important. "I think, anyway. That was a long time ago."

Mara nodded, a chill running through her at the mention of Alderaan. It was, indeed, a long time ago.

* * *

On a somewhat distant planet, a woman stands in the darkness watching the night sky. It is a years-long tradition she has felt compelled to keep up, even now, long after planetary hostilities have ceased.

This night, no different from any other, feels different somehow. As if something distinctly fundamental has changed. What that something could be is indistinct, but it is there.

Arms envelop her from behind and the woman leans back into the comforting embrace of her husband. "Hi."

"One could almost see all the way to Coruscant on a night like this," he murmurs in her ear.

She nods. "Yes. You feel the difference, don't you?"

He is silent for a moment that feels like an eternity. "Yes. It's faint, but there."

"What do you think it means?"

"Too soon to tell," he says as he hugs her tightly before letting go and taking her hand in his. "Come on."

And together, they go inside. Whatever it is can wait a while longer.


	17. Chapter 17

When Luke awoke again, he found Mara leaning hard against the couch, eyes closed. Even from behind, he could tell she was sleeping. He watched her for long minutes, smiling at how beautifully peaceful she looked.

The moment was broken by a flash of a familiar angry face, darkness, some plant he didn't recognize, and... the taste of chocolate? Luke blinked rapidly as the images faded, leaving him unsettled. What was that, and why did the aftertaste of chocolate refuse to fade as well? He had almost no time to wonder as Mara came awake with an almost startled shriek. "Woah, Mara. It's just me."

Mara blinked back at him for a moment, seeming very puzzled. "Why wouldn't it be you?"

Reluctantly, he untangled his fingers from her hair. "Good question. Interesting dream?"

She looked away briefly, eyes narrow. "Interesting... maybe."

"Want to talk about it?" She held up a drawing on a flimsie for him to see, and Luke froze. The same plant. All right, so it was making even less sense than usual. "Saw that right before you woke up."

"Before, on the ship when you meditated on the way to Berchest? Started seeing this. Been seeing it off and on ever since." She was silent for a minute, staring at it. Then she shrugged and turned to look at him. "How do you feel?"

"Awake."

Mara levered herself up off the floor, taking the time to let her muscles adjust as she stretched. Then she turned and watched him slowly sit up and move, and had to frown at how stiff he seemed. "Luke..."

Luke glanced at her. "Hadn't had a work out quite like that in... well, ever, really. Nothing like having an actual person there." She wondered if maybe that assessment was a bit of an understatement when he winced and wasn't able to hide it. "Have you figured out where it is, yet?"

"I think so." Mara wanted to say more, but a voice from the doorway to the kitchen stopped her.

"Oh, you're both up," Han said, smiling smugly. "When you're done flirting, breakfast is ready."

Luke stared at the doorway Han had disappeared back through. "But we aren't."

Impulsively, Mara stepped forward and kissed him soundly on the lips. When she pulled away, she was smiling up at him. "Now we are."

Luke stared at her for twenty seconds before returning the kiss. They stayed like that until Han interrupted them again.

"Any time, you two. Food's gonna get cold."

It was two somewhat sheepish, but nonetheless happy, people who joined Han and Leia for breakfast.


	18. Chapter 18

Breakfast so far had been a quiet affair filled with small talk, save for Mara sneezing every time she so much as looked at the floral arrangement in the center of the table. About the sixth time it happened, Leia frowned in curiosity. "Mara?"

Mara glanced at her, caught sight of the floral arrangement again, and failed to stifle another sneeze. "Sorry."

"Don't be." She turned to Han and motioned with her hand to take the floral arrangement and put it elsewhere. Han nodded and did just that. "Seems we've found something interesting."

Luke, who kept getting distracted feeling something very odd pricking at him over the bond, hadn't put all the pieces together yet. "What?"

"In a minute, Luke. Look at me again, Mara."

Mara did, and blinked when she didn't have that very unexplainable urge to sneeze again. "Huh?"

"Now turn and look at Han." She felt bad for needing to be sure, but answers was answers, and she didn't get to ask what it was last night that had given Mara a headache.

Mara turned, looked at Han, who was holding the floral arrangement, and sneezed. She whirled back around to stare at Leia with wide eyes. "I had allergies to certain kinds of plants when I was small. Sneezed whenever I went near 'em."

Luke frowned at the floral arrangement as Han set it down on a counter out of Mara's sight. Allergies? No... it didn't feel like allergies to him. "That's not it." And weren't those plastic and hypoallergenic?

Leia nodded. "He's right, Mara. This isn't an allergy. And deep down, you know it."

"Looks more like a conditioned response," Han said as he rejoined them at the table. "Every time you looked at Leia, you sneezed because the floral arrangement was right there."

Mara shook her head. "No, I was fine when I was drawing last night. That can't be it."

"A drawing isn't the same as the real thing," Leia pointed out calmly. "And you were drawing a flower, so there might be some kind of a connection."

Mara considered that information as she pulled the folded piece of flimsy out of her pocket. She didn't unfold it, but simply looked at it. Were they right? And if so... what then? Why would she be sneezing at the mere sight of a floral arrangement? It didn't make any sense! None!

Luke put his hand on her arm, getting her attention. "We'll figure this out."

"I've been allergic since I was six, or... that's when I was diagnosed, at least." She stared at him, unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong about that statement. "Before that... don't remember." Mara shook her head slowly. "And there shouldn't need to be anything to figure out. It's ridiculous."

Leia glanced at Han, and at once felt like apologizing for being difficult before. "Almost as ridiculous as passing out for no apparent reason while orbiting through former explosion sites, hmmm?" At his nearly imperceptible nod of acknowledgement, she knew he'd mostly forgiven her. Mostly.

Luke looked at Leia in confusion. Former... what? "Leia?"

"Endor, Luke," Han explained. "Seems the Emperor wasn't content to just die like everyone else. Leia had an... adventure while waiting for the Noghri."

"So that's why your ship was left at Endor," Mara said, connecting the dots. "That really confused Thrawn, by the way."

Luke studied Leia with the Force, trying to see if anything was wrong with her that way. He didn't feel anything untoward. That was a good sign, right? "And?"

"And nothing," Leia told him seriously. "Other than scaring Chewie and worrying Threepio, I'm fine. I bring it up as an example. Probably a bad example, because now I've worried you."

Mara blinked at Leia, suddenly realizing there was something to that example. Slowly, she turned and looked at the floral arrangement... and couldn't stop herself from sneezing. For just a moment, she saw something else in place of it, and then sneezed again, and the image fled. A hand on her shoulder stopped her before she could make herself sneeze a third time. "What?"

Luke's voice was soothing. "Stop, Mara. We'll help you figure it out, but forcing yourself to sneeze like this isn't helping matters."

She let him pull her back around, trying to smile. Somehow, she got the feeling that it was annoying him just as much as it was her. "It's just... I don't think I've been around anything that flowers intentionally since an aide found me sneezing up a storm in the gardens with watery eyes... the works. Hadn't realized it until now." She took a deep breath, and moved to change the subject. "So, who wants to plan a raid on an Imperial outpost?"

Han chuckled. "After breakfast, Mara."

"So we can't talk about it now, Solo?"

"Didn't say that..."

* * *

The former Imperial Palace still had a garden, Mara mused as she looked in from the doorway. The plants needed tending to, but it did sort of look the same as the last time she'd stood in this same doorway before leaving for Tatooine. It was habit to stop, take a minute, and just look from the door. An... apparently conditioned habit that she wouldn't be breaking today.

"They've just started to get everything back into shape," Roganda's voice spoke up from behind, causing Mara to jump and curse silently to herself that she hadn't heard or felt the woman approach. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Mara told her, still somewhat distracted. She wanted to go in and look around, but... "I remember it being less overgrown."

Roganda chuckled. "I know what you mean."

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"We're getting ready to go. It was me, or Skywalker, coming to find you, but Han claimed he needed the kid for something." Roganda chuckled again as Mara turned to look at her. "For some reason, Luke seemed worried about you being around plants."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Had an adverse reaction to a floral arrangement, wanted to test something before we left." Why she was telling the woman this, she wasn't sure.

"Ah." Roganda waited a few moments for her to say more, but Mara stayed silent. "And so far?"

"I'm fine," Mara told her. Looking at the woman, she saw a much younger girl standing in her place for a moment, and then the image was gone. Strange, she thought as she stared at Roganda's carefully blank face. "Should we get going?"

"Yes."

* * *

Han was talking something over with a man in gray scrubs when Roganda arrived at the landing pad with Mara. He nodded at her in greeting, waved her up the ramp, and continued talking.

Mara frowned as they passed him. "What was that about?"

"I think he's concerned about leaving Leia this soon after," Roganda explained as she led the way up the ramp. "That was Doctor Kerlan. Or he could be getting pointers on how to deal with the medic we've got. Tough call."

"Why?"

"Which part?"

"We're taking a medic?"

"Oh. It's a mission to unknown terrain and conditions, and it would be a medic with combat experience." She turned the corner at the top of the ramp and nearly ran into someone. "Oh, sorry... Tamblyn?"

Tamblyn smiled. "I'm not going. You got stuck with Cam instead."

Roganda sighed. "Just helping with equipment, then, hmm?"

"Yes." She nodded to Mara, who was staring at her with raised eyebrows. "Hello, and now goodbye. Have a good mission, or raid, or whatever we're calling it."

Roganda rolled her eyes as Tamblyn exited via the ramp, then glanced at Mara. "Cam, who you'll be meeting shortly, is her husband. He... takes some getting used to."

Mara was staring down the now-empty ramp. "How do so many people know about this mission? It's supposed to be secret."

"They're New Republic Intelligence," Roganda tried to explain. "It is a secret mission, but we had to get clearance from Admiral Ackbar and General Madine who are both either involved with or in charge of the NRI. And we can't seem to go anywhere on a mission without a combat medic, either. Seems the Admiral just wants to be prepared on all fronts." When Mara looked at her in question, Roganda winced at the reminder of missions gone awry. "Better safe than sorry, you know?"

Mara nodded as they turned another corner and found themselves in the Falcon's lounge area where a man she hadn't seen before was taking stock of what appeared to be medical supplies while Luke watched from the Dejarik board with an uncharacteristically quiet Threepio. "This must be Cam."

The man glanced at her, blinked for a moment, and returned to his inventory. "Dr. Camassi Vectrol, actually. But you're right, I must be Cam. Who else would be?"

Roganda felt like rolling her eyes at the sarcasm. "What did you do to get stuck with us, Cam? Tamblyn could barely keep a smirk off her face as she was leaving."

Cam didn't even bother to look up. "Same thing as always: Doctor Moss is still holding a grudge and thinks I don't get off the planet enough. Plus, I go stir crazy at times and she'd rather I went on missions than start to experiment on the staff and patients."

"Grudge about what?" At Cam's ensuing silence, Roganda turned and looked at Mara. "Never have gotten a straight answer about that. Must have been pretty bad."

"It was," Cam told her. "All kinds of bad."

Mara shook her head and joined Luke at the Dejarik table. She looked at Threepio, and noticed that his 'eyes' were uncharacteristically dark. "Oh. Not quiet. Recharging."

Luke nodded. "Feel better?"

"Somewhat."

"Figure anything out?"

"Not really, no."

Luke sighed. "If it's a wooded planet like we suspect, are you going to be all right?"

"Yes." She dared him to say otherwise with her eyes.

"If I may interrupt?" Cam spoke up, drawing their attention to himself. "Jade here is the only one who wasn't present for preflight checks, so..." Here he held up a visor-like device. "We can check that, too, if it's that much of an issue."

"Cam, I don't see how a V.R. visor would help," Roganda said slowly.

"And you're not the medic assigned to this mission, so hush." Cam kept his gaze on Mara, who appeared very skeptical. "You know what it does, right?"

"Simulates environs. Used one for long range tactical training," Mara told him honestly.

Han entered the lounge on his way tot he cockpit, saw the visor in Cam's hand, and decided to not ask. He proceeded right through without a word, Lando right behind him.

* * *

An hour later, they'd entered hyperspace, and Cam had taken Mara to another cabin to do what should have been her preflight check and what was now an in-flight check. Wearing the visor, he'd taken her through six different settings, and found she only sneezed like crazy for one of them, even though they all had some variation of wooded areas. It was on the seventh that things got... weird.

Mara had been fine at first, and then she began to sneeze, and then the sneezing ceased and her voice took on a different tone. A younger, child-like tone. She bent down from her standing position, cupped something in her hands, and sniffed. "Smells like... home! Home. Home!" She shook her head, and though he could not see her eyes under the visor, Cam understood very well that she was dazed. "No. Home is here. Isn't it?"

He stared at her for a minute before noticing Luke in the doorway. "Um... I'm not sure what that is, but..."

"Stop," was all Luke said.

Nodding, he quickly changed the environ setting, relaxing as the woman's posture changed again and her hands fell to her sides. And then he switched it off.

Mara removed the visor and blinked at it. "Weird." She noticed Luke, blinked again. "What was that?"

"You don't know?" Cam asked her.

She shook her head. "No." She motioned for Luke to enter. "Sort of remember it, thought. Do I pass my pre-flight?"

"Yes." Cam quickly stood, took the visor from her, and went to the door. He glanced back at them. "That last one was the Imperial Palace Gardens. Comes standard with the sim program."

Mara nodded as he left, and then sat down to lean against a bulkhead. She closed her eyes, and felt rather then saw Luke sitting down beside her. "Hey."

"We'll..." Luke was halted from repeating himself when she laid a hand over his mouth.

"I know we will, but what if I don't want to." She waited a long moment before taking her hand away.

Luke sat there for a moment before frowning at her. "Then we won't try to."

She snorted at that logic and now allowed herself to look at him. "Even if all this makes you curious?"

"Even then."

Mara smiled at him, trying (and failing) to forget the weirdness of the situation. They sat there for a few minutes before Mara sighed and stood up. "Guess we should get back on task, hmmm?"

"Only if you're ready."

* * *

Han had just hit the lever for the course change at Obroa Skai when Mara joined them in the cockpit. He glanced back at her, noting she carried a datapad. "How'd it go with that visor?"

"Fine," she told him through gritted teeth and handed the pad to him. "Course corrections." And then she was gone again.

Han frowned at Chewie for a long moment, glanced at Lando, shrugged, and moved to input the corrections. Even for Mara, that was a very short conversation.

* * *

Cam studied Roganda's face over the holograms of the Dejarik board. "You seem distracted."

"That's because I am," Roganda told him as she stared at the board, seemingly trying to make sense of which players were whose.

He was somewhat startled when she left him alone at the table without saying another word. For the love of all Wampas on Hoth... was _everyone_ on this mission emotionally disturbed in one way or another?

* * *

Lando felt an insistent tap on his shoulder and broke off what he'd been saying to Han to find Roganda glaring at him. "What?"

"Go play dejarik with the medic, all right?"

Lando frowned at her. She seemed very... tense. "All right." Glancing at Han as he stood up, "Continue this discussion later?"

"Sure." Han waited until Lando was out of the cockpit and Roganda had taken his place before saying anything. "Something wrong?"

"Do I seem like anyone's teacher to you?" As Han simply looked at her, waiting for her to extrapolate, Roganda sighed. "I don't deserve to teach anyone, Solo. Especially about the Force. I've known darkness, embraced it... killed. I can't teach anyone that."

Han blinked, the subject coming into focus with alarming clarity: she was afraid. More than that, she was afraid of her own weakness. "Who asked you to do so?"

"You remember that security officer whose saber I borrowed to spar with?"

"Yes... and if you call that sparring, I'd hate to see what you call all-out combat. What about him?"

"He wants to learn... from me." At Han's frown, she winced. "What?"

"You don't think you're up to the challenge." It was an accusation, not a question.

"Challenge?"

"Yes, Ganda. Challenge." He stared at her for a long moment before turning and looking out at the molted sky of hyperspace. "Good or bad, it's still a challenge."

She nodded. "That doesn't answer any of my questions, Solo."

"And, just maybe, it's time you faced that part of yourself."

"Are you trying to tell me to face my fears?"

He very nearly lost his composure at how ridiculous it sounded. "In a manner of speaking... yes."

"When did you become all philosophical?"

"From listening to Luke too much," Han muttered. "Do or do not, or whatever the saying is." He winced when she swatted him on the shoulder. "Sorry. Your choice, Roganda."

"It wouldn't bring Irek back like nothing happened."

"Didn't say it would." And there it was, like he suspected. At the crux of the issue was her son, and her failure which had resulted in his death. "Nothing, no power in this universe, could do that."

"And that is why I should say no."

"No. That's why you should think about it a while longer before making a choice either way. Think about it, have a chat with Luke... whatever." He glanced at her, looked away again. "Like you said, nothing can bring your son back. But maybe... it's time to stop running from it?"

"I'm not."

He stood up, stretched, and yawned. "I'm going to go check some things. Watch the ship for me?"

Roganda nodded and he left her in the cockpit, shaking her head. "I'm not running." But the more she thought about it, the more his words seemed to mock her, and the more she thought about what he'd been trying to say.

She wasn't running, no. Not anymore... Or was she? It would take some consideration. Much more.

* * *

The Dejarik game had long since been abandoned for Sabacc. Han studied Lando's cards over his shoulder, then looked at Cam. "What are you wagering? Medical supplies?"

Cam grinned and shook his head. "Night watches."

"And the medic here is losing," Lando told him.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Not."

"Are."

"Not."

Han rolled his eyes and started to walk away, leaving them to it, child-like fake arguments and all. He was wondering where the other two members of this mission were when Chewie motioned to the corridor leading to the small quarters. "They been in there long?" Chewie grunted in the negative, and then asked a question that made Han want to laugh. Old habits! "She'll be fine."

"Who will?" Lando asked from behind him.

Han turned back around, noting that the medic was watching him intently. "Ganda." At Lando's frown, Han shook his head. "Don't ask. It's better that way."

"Right." Lando returned his attention to his cards, glanced at Cam. "All right. Maybe you are winning after all."

"Mind not on the game?" Cam asked teasingly.

"Might possibly be in Han's quarters with Luke and Jade." At the ensuing and directed silence, Lando looked up again to find Cam frowning at him. "What?"

Cam shook his head slowly. "Medical confidentiality forbids me from saying it, General."

Lando glanced back at Han, confused. "What's he talking about, and why do I get the feeling that I stepped in something I shouldn't have?"

"None of your concern," Cam told him sternly. "Now, can we get back to the game, please?"

"I guess..."

While Han watched, Lando proceeded to lose three straight rounds to an annoyed medic, and Han made a mental note to never get on the man's bad side and then play Sabacc.


	19. Chapter 19

On the way back to the cockpit, Han stopped and looked in on Luke and Mara, wondering why Luke had left the door open. He saw the two of them sitting on the other side of the small room, both asleep with Mara using Luke for a pillow, and couldn't help but want to laugh.

Slowly, quietly in order to not disturb them, Han pulled the blanket off the bunk and grabbed the pillow. Then he turned, covered them with the blanket, and put the pillow behind Luke's head.

Staring down at them, Han smiled. So innocent... and, for that matter, cute. His task complete, Han backed out of the room and paused again in the doorway, soaking in the sight of simple togetherness. It was something normal for Luke, for once. Normal... with potential. That meant a lot.

Shaking his head with barely contained laughter, Ham continued on his way to the cockpit.

* * *

Mara woke to find herself laying in Luke's arms as he leaned against a bulkhead, and had the presence of mind to wonder when she'd drifted off. She tilted her head slightly to find him watching her. "Hi."

Luke smiled. "Good nap?"

"Probably should have used the bunk," she muttered, but made no move to untangle herself from his arms. "You must be uncomfortable, sitting here with me on the deck."

He shook his head slightly. "No. Took one myself."

"You still tired?"

"Should be asking you that," Mara pointed out. She paused, thinking as she glanced at the bunk. The now-stripped bunk. "Wait. I don't remember grabbing this blanket earlier."

"You didn't. Anymore than I grabbed a pillow."

Mara tilted her head to look at him again, only now noticing the pillow. "Then how..."

"Han," Luke answered automatically. "Or Chewie."

Mara blinked at him. "That happen a lot to you?"

Luke smiled at her again. "Used to happen fairly frequently, sure." He studied her for a moment, realizing something. "You're embarrassed, aren't you?"

She paused. Was she? It was a new experience, but embarrassing? "Maybe a little. Do we have to move?"

"Only if you want to." He listened to the sounds of the ship. "Sounds like we're still in hyperspace."

"You can tell just by listening?"

"Can't you?"

Mara gave up trying to talk and just let herself relax into him again. Blanket, or no blanket, or the implied well-meaning intrusion... it didn't matter. She liked it here.

* * *

Cam glanced up as Roganda rejoined them in the hold after Solo had left again, studying her as she sat down next to the Wookiee and flashed a smile at him. Huh... she seemed a little more at ease now. "Feel better?"

"You can stop examining all of us, Doctor," Roganda told him curtly. "I'm fine. You're fine, we're all fine."

Lando turned and looked at her. "He was only being courteous, Lady Janson."

She stared at him a moment before glancing at Chewie. "Who is winning?" At his answer, Roganda chuckled. "Ah."

Cam put his cards down and sat back, putting his hands behind his head. "Since we're talking about exams... I had the opportunity to talk to one of the would-be kidnappers that you and Officer Melyan dealt with. Did you know Quest is more than somewhat senile?"

"That could have been the drugs," Roganda pointed out, not even looking at him.

"No, those make a person woozy, not senile or demented."

"He was always demented," she muttered. "And you remember the Emperor, yes?"

"More than I'd like to." At the stares being directed at him from three people, Cam shrugged. "What? I worked in a research hospital before I joined the Rebel Alliance. On Coruscant."

Roganda nodded. "Right. So Quest being somewhat more than slightly mentally off? Not all that unexpected. The dark side... does things to people." She shuddered.

Cam studied the woman, not at all missing the glare from the Wookiee being directed at him. She'd know all about that, but now wasn't the time to press. He'd likely lose an arm if he did. He was saved from continuing that line of thought when Skywalker and Jade joined them in the hold. "Hello there. Sleep well?"

Skywalker smiled guilelessly while Jade rolled her eyes. "Yes. Well... Mara did, anyway. I slept for more than ten hours yesterday." He looked at Roganda. "Feel better?"

Roganda sighed as Cam blinked and looked at her with renewed interest. "Yes. We'll have to make work-outs a regular thing, won't we?"

Mara frowned. "You want to do lightsaber training?"

"No."

"Then why...?"

"Long story, Jade. Very long story that can wait for a better time." Roganda caught a small spherical device that Luke pulled out of its cubby hole with the Force and looked at it, then at him. "You that eager to see me do basics and get stunned a bazillion times?"

"And if I was?" Luke asked her with a grin.

Roganda chuckled and handed the remote to Chewie. "I'd say thank you... and then find one of those anti-Force critters and make you do it blind. Repeatedly." At Luke's wide eyes, she shook her head in resignation. "Sorry. Teasing."

"Actually, I hadn't thought of doing it that way as a training aid. It's an interesting thought, taking away a sense to teach." Luke glanced at Mara thoughtfully. "That reminds me. If we run into-"

"I'll be prepared this time," Mara told him gruffly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Berchest was a shock, next time won't be."

Luke nodded. "Good. Glad to hear it."

Lando turned and frowned at him. "Berchest?"

"They had Ysalimiri."

"Oh."

"And Mara knows a technique to shatter walls by touching them."

"Oh... huh?" Lando glanced at Mara, who shrugged. "You do?"

"More than one, really."

"What's the other one?" Luke wondered. "You said there was a way out of that room, but then the walls reflected and you switched techniques."

Mara spent the next twenty minutes trying to explain what a cross cut was without actually showing them. She was pretty certain Solo wouldn't appreciate the knocking down of bulkheads.

* * *

Cam was just finishing securing medical supplies in his pack when he heard rather than saw the sounds of a very obvious commotion coming from the direction of the boarding ramp. Drawing his personal blaster, he had just enough warning before a creature darted in and snarled at him ferociously. It was over just as quickly, and as he bent down, Cam couldn't help but stare at the reptilian creature.

"Medic Vectrol?" Skywalker's voice asked from the direction of the ramp, startling him.

"All clear," Cam told him clearly. Had he really just felled this creature with one shot between the eyes? He'd have to thank Larond and Tamblyn for the mandatory weekly practice... it really did pay off. "And call me Cam, would you? The other way's just too formal."

Skywalker snorted. "Right. Cam, it is." And then he disappeared again.

Cam shook his head slowly as he stood up, grabbed his pack, and then stepped over the creature carefully and made his way to the boarding ramp... where more of the things were scattered all around. As he walked down the ramp, he stared. "What happened?"

"Garrals," Jade told him.

"Which are?"

"Animal guards. Very, very rural ones." She took note of the blaster still in his hand, glanced back up the ramp. "Did you...?"

"Have a close encounter? Yes." Cam shook himself, holstered the blaster, and began to take stock of who was where and what condition they were in. Jade was fine, Skywalker more so... but as his gaze settled on Roganda, he frowned. She was leaning against one of the speeder bikes, eyes wide. "Jade?"

"Yes?"

"Has she been like that for long?"

Jade followed his pointing finger, and blinked. "No. Odd."

Camm nodded and went to talk to Roganda. "You all right?"

Roganda blinked up at him. "Huh?"

Cam studied her for a moment longer before turning to look at the others. They were fine. Good. Then he turned back and offered a hand to the woman. "Come on. Let's take a walk?"

"I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting to see those things." She shuddered, grimacing.

Cam waited, frowning. Finally, she let him help her up. Then he turned to find Solo approaching them. "I'm taking her inside."

Solo nodded. "If you think it's necessary."

"I do."

* * *

Cam set a glass of water in front of her and then sat down himself. "Drink that."

Roganda frowned at him. "I told you. I'm fine."

"Make me believe it, then. Drink."

Roganda sighed and did as requested. Finished, she set the glass down. "Happy now?"

"Somewhat. Mind telling me why you seemed to be in shock?"

There was a long silence before Roganda looked at him again. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No."

She sighed again. "Those things... I've seen them before. On a mission... you know. Before."

Cam nodded slowly. "All right. Was the mission bad?"

Roganda glanced down at the felled one still laying in the entryway. "Depends on what you'd consider bad."

He chose not to read too much into that answer and stood up again, knowing there was more to it than just a mission and memories, but also knowing where the boundries were. "And now?"

"Bad reminder."

"Ready to rejoin everyone outside?"

Roganda stood up as well, nodding. "I think I am. Thank you."

As he followed her out, he had to wonder what that mission was and why it was so bad to remember. A moment later, he stopped, turned, and sighed to himself as he went back and pulled the creature to the ramp. It wouldn't do to leave it just laying around.

Skywalker was waiting at the foot of the ramp. "Cam?"

"Think the whole mission is going to be like today?" Cam asked when he stood up after dragging the thing outside.

Luke shook his head slowly. "Don't know. As it is, we're walking."

"Oh?"

He motioned to the creatures. "Those are attracted to repulsor lifts."

Cam blinked, startled by that information. So... when she'd said she had seen these things on a mission of some kind and it was bad... "Oh."

* * *

She really had to hand it to him: Han Solo knew how to covertly watch people, but not well enough so a person wouldn't notice he was doing it. For every fifty yards they went, he was taking a look around, spotting her, nodding to himself, and then it was back to business as usual while walking through heavy underbrush and battling the nasty vine snakes and other assorted woodland-related hazards. Finally, they halted for the night and set up camp.

Sitting down next to him, Roganda warmed her hands against the fire. It was small enough they could put it out in a hurry, warm enough to keep most of the chill away. "Something on your mind?"

Han didn't reply at first, and as the silence stretched she began to grow impatient. Finally, he shook his head slowly. "It's nothing, Ganda. Just a stray thought is all."

"A stray thought which has had you mentally keeping tabs on me since we left the Falcon?"

"You saw that?"

"Hard to miss."

Han nodded, glanced around the immediate area, his eyes stopping on Luke and Mara, talking quietly among themselves. "Hmmm... I guess I was worried about you. After the medic pulled you inside for a talk."

"It wasn't the animals," Roganda told him, her voice suddenly so tight with emotion that it made him blink in surprise and steal a glance at her. "It was the suddenness of the attack, combined with our combat medic bringing Quest up while in transit. I didn't want to explain being in the middle of a very localized ground quake to him, so I sort of fibbed. How does one explain it to a person who wasn't there?"

Han stared at her for a moment before glancing away again. It made sense: the attack had happened that suddenly. "Bad reminder of a truly bad day?" And he knew she hated being caught unaware in broad daylight.

Roganda nodded. "Yes."

"Feel like kicking some rocks?"

"Don't even joke about that, Solo."

"Ice walls?" Han tried again, trying to at least be humorous for her sake. It wasn't working, nor was it apparently going to.

"No."

"Good. We don't have the medical supplies or any ice walls to satisfy either of those needs."

Roganda snorted, trying not to laugh at the gallows humor of it.

* * *

Luke looked up, surprised to hear muted laughing, smiled when he saw Han and Roganda talking, and then returned his attention to Mara. "Not a bad first day."

"No... is there more to her story than being a dancer?"

Luke sighed. "Not my story to tell."

"Ah." Mara was silent for a moment before she nudged his knee. "Niether one of us has completed each other's sentences in days. I kind of miss it."

"You do?"

"Not so much that I want to start doing it again."

"Ah." Luke looked around the campsite and into the forest with his senses, frowning as he felt sentient minds nearby, and then those moved out of range. "We passed some flowering plants during the hike to get here. You didn't react to those."

She'd noticed, but hadn't thought he had. "I don't know what to tell you."

"Wasn't asking, just making an observation."

Together, Luke and Mara sat and did the first watch with Artoo while everyone else bedded down and tried to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

They'd stopped again for the day and Roganda was now watching Luke give Mara a training session from a distance. It was interesting, watching the two of them. Half the time, they didn't seem to stop arguing, and the other half, there was a very odd serenity about them that simply couldn't be explained in words. She'd also not really ever seen Luke that at ease with another person who wasn't Han before. Not since Bespin, anyway.

"He'll probably annoy her sooner than he thinks," Han said as he sat down next to her. When Mara ran the seedpod through with the tip of the blade, Han chuckled. "Or that."

"Unorthodox, but that is something I'd expect from her."

Han blinked as Luke questioned Mara about what she'd just done, and turned to look at Roganda in question. "What?"

Roganda didn't look at him as she shook her head. "Doesn't matter now, but I knew her. Briefly. Back then."

Han knew he shouldn't have been surpirsed to hear something like that from this woman, but he was. He studied her, trying to figure out what she was saying without forcing her to actually say it. "Right. If you knew her, why doesn't she seem to know you?" And why did he get the feeling that Mara having an inexplicable allergy to flowers might be mixed up in this?

"She was six. I was ten. That was a long time ago, and people change."

"Oh." He paused again, going over what Mara had said about her allergy... about being six or so when an aide had found her having an attack. "Way back then, you mean."

"Yes."

"And you don't think you should bring it up to her, that you know what she is. Or was."

Roganda shook her head again, eyes still on the lesson. She was starting to wonder when they'd begin to kiss each other wildly. Dancing around the issue was maddening... and they really weren't fooling anyone. "More to it than that."

"Of course there is." When wasn't there?

She turned and looked at him, frowning. "What?"

"Openess is good, Roganda."

Roganda chuckled. "You. Leia. Arguing very loudly in the south passage."

Han rolled his eyes. "That's different."

"Not so much."

Han was silent for a few moments as he looked at her, choosing what to say next. "You're hedging, trying to distract me."

"Is it working?"

"No."

"If I promise to talk to her about the Imperial sevice thing, will you drop it?"

"Maybe." Silence followed until Han spoke again. "You want everyone to think you were just a dancer?"

Roganda sighed. "Those that think it always underestimate me." She winced when Han slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "What?"

"Think about it."

She watched him get up and walk off, muttering to himself unintelligably, and frowned. "Think about what?"

* * *

Lando didn't glance up as Han joined him at the campfire. "Hi."

Han grunted as he sat down on the other side of the fire. "Hey."

"How's the lesson going?"

"Probably better than your last shift watches."

"Funny."

"You're the one who lost three straight rounds of Sabacc to a medic."

Lando looked up, eyebrows raised. "How long are you going to bring that up?"

Han simply smiled at him and didn't say a word.


	21. Chapter 21

Right about now, Roganda was wishing for a distraction. She didn't want to be sitting here with Mara, Artoo, and a sarcastic, overprotective medic. The Noghri had followed them here. Somehow, that wasn't really a surprise. She glanced at Mara, uncertain of what she wanted to say and silently cursing Solo in her mind. "I was never a dancer."

Mara turned and frowned at her. "I kind of figured you weren't."

"Except in accordance with a need to be undercover."

Cam suddenly snorted, drawing their attention to him. "What? Continue."

"Go away," Roganda told him through clenched teeth. "This is hard enough without you laughing."

"Oh, that wasn't a laugh, Lady Ismaren. I sneezed." He motioned to the trees. "And it's not like there's anywhere to go. Vine snakes and all that." She glared at him and he shook his head. "But I will do my best to be quiet. Continue."

Mara, meanwhile, was staring at Roganda in fascination. "You were Imperial. Like me."

Roganda's head spun back to her so fast, she got dizzy for a moment. "I'm sorry?"

"It was no secret that there were deep cover agents, Roganda." Mara shook her head slowly, an expression of exasperation showing only minutely on her face. "I'd been under the impression that I was the only Hand, but... obviously not." She frowned. "What happened to you that you ended up with the Rebel Alliance?"

Roganda blinked, stunned for a moment before turning and looking at Cam. "Can you leave us alone for a few minutes? What I have to say, I can't say in front of you."

Cam studied her for a few seconds before he stood up, nodding. "Want me to take Artoo?"

"Please."

Cam tapped Artoo's dome. "Come on." At Artoos' protesting warble, Cam bent down closer to him. "So listen from a distance." He led Artoo far enough away so Roganda and Mara could have some form of privacy without actually being out of sight.

A short time later, Luke, Lando, Chewie, Han, and Threepio returned to camp and Cam intercepted them before they could join the women at the camp fire. "Wait. They're having a long talk, getting to know each other better."

Han stared at him. "Why aren't you over there with them?"

"Because Roganda had something to explain about why she turned Rebel that she couldn't say in front of me."

"Oh." Han looked toward them, then glanced at Luke. "They okay?"

"So far," Luke muttered.

"Good."

"What happened?" Cam wondered, noticing the extra two non-humans. "And who are they?"

Han smiled. "Those are Noghri and we gained some allies. Seems the natives want the Imps gone nearly as much as we want to get rid of that base."

Cam nodded. "Good to hear."

"Lando also gained some company for last watch," Han put in, teasing ever so lightly. Lando, for his part, only hmphed and went to find his bedroll to turn in early.

"Is there some joke I'm missing related to Lando being on late night watches?" Luke wondered suddenly.

Cam smirked and held up a hand, forestalling Han from saying anything. "Nor really. He said something he shouldn't have, I got a little miffed, and had a sting of luck. The bet was night watches."

"Oh."

* * *

Mara was still dumbfounded when Luke joined them. She took a moment to acknowledge his presence over the bond, but kept her gaze on Roganda. To be following orders and have something like that happen... It was unimaginable. "You seem awfully calm about it all."

Roganda shook her head. "I'm not, even now." She glanced at Luke, sighed, and turned to find Han, Threepio, Chewie, the medic, and Artoo watching them from a distance. "Did Solo send you over here?"

"No. Felt Mara's shock all the way from the conference with the natives."

Roganda turned back to look at him, then looked at Mara, who shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess it is somewhat shocking, finding out you weren't the only one who thought of that man as a sort of father figure."

Mara frowned suddenly. "I have this vague impression of a memory of you, only much younger. Try to follow it... nothing."

That little revelation made her pause. Could it be? "That's because I only saw you once when I was young." She shuddered, feeling a hidden weight crash down upon her. "I can't say any more than that. Don't know why." Except... she did know, or was beginning to suspect. She noticed Luke staring at her, frowning. "What?"

Luke blinked, shook his head. "Now is not the time, but when this mission is over, the three of us will probably be having a very long talk."

Roganda paused, took a deep breath. "So long as we're talking now, I need to ask you something."

"About?"

"Can you train me?"

Luke frowned again. "Train you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know the first thing about being Jedi and Officer Melyan wants to learn how to use his lightsaber!" It came out in a rush, far too loudly, and silence reigned for a few minutes as Luke sat there, stunned blinking rapidly, trying to digest what she'd just said.

It was Mara who finally broke the silence. "Wants you to teach him?"

"Yes." Roganda looked at Luke again. "And I want to do something wrong, nor did I say I would, yet."

Luke blinked again, then seemed to relax into himself. "That's a good first step, Roganda."

"What is?"

"Knowing you don't know enough." His eyes went distant for a moment, then he grimaced. "Being afraid is also part of it."

"What's the other part?"

"Do or do not. There is no try." Mara grunted in annoyance and swatted at him. "What? It's true!"

"And that was only part of a sentence, Farmboy."

Roganda stared at them for a long, long moment. "Should I leave you two alone?"

Mara shook her head. "No... yes. Maybe."

Luke laughed suddenly, surprising them both. "Right. Roganda, I wouldn't call it training. Not exactly. But if you want to learn what I learned, then we could do that. Swamp or no swamp?"

"Swamp? There was a swamp?"

Luke nodded gravely. "And now you know why I both needed surgery and a shower after Bespin." He winced just thinking about that time.

Mara felt an urge to chuckle, but stifled it and didn't. It wasn't funny. Not in the slightest.

* * *

From a little less than a mile away, they could see it. The mountain loomed in the distance, at once inviting an forboding. And Mara didn't like it. "It's dark."

"Dark?" Roganda wondered. "Dark how? It's a mountain."

Mara turned to her, frowning in thought. The woman wanted training... this was a perfect opportunity for it. "Reach out and look, but now with your eyes."

Roganda frowned. "With the Force, you mean?"

"How else would I mean it?"

Roganda nodded and let the barriers fall, reaching out into the Force and feeling the environment around herself. Feeling her way outward, she felt the people in their group, the droids, the Noghri, the animal life, and the natives in the vicinity. And then, very suddenly, she hit a blank spot where there should have been a multitude of somethings. Instead... there was a great big nothing. A void. She opened her eyes and stared at the mountain. "That's just not normal. That's what Ysalimiri feel like?"

"Yes."

She allowed herself to stare at the mountain for another minute before blinking and turning to look back the way they'd come, and at the other members of the small strike force. "Well... that's different."

"At least we know we're in the right place," Mara told her.

"That, too."

* * *

Inside the 'bubble,' and much better prepared this time, Mara did not allow herself to panic. Not only would it not help matters, but doing so would also cause an embarrassing scene for which she'd never be able to live down.

Standing next to Luke as Artoo worked it's magic and shut down the ventilation system, she eyed the 'back door' of Mount Tantiss. Of course it'd be the duct work.

A hand on her arm was so startling it made her jump, and she glared at Luke, who had the decency to appear guilty. "Sorry."

Mara continued to glare at him. "Don't be."

"Not like last time, is it?"

"There's a choice now. Wasn't one last time."

He squeezed her arm a little before letting go. "True."

"And you still owe me dinner."

"You know what they say about good things, Mara."

Yes. She did. That didn't mean she couldn't rib on him as much as she pleased.

* * *

Infiltrating the place was one thing, finding their way around was another. Now, sitting again next to Luke as he listened to Threepio translated what Artoo was saying, she had time to stare out and around at the giant room full of Sparrti cylinders. It was different, being here again, and knowing that these things were being used to torment and uproot the already-tormented.

Suddenly, Luke stood up, catching her attention. "Great."

"What?"

"C'Boath is here."

Mara stared at him. "Here?"

"Got here this morning, just after we entered the bubble." Artoo tweeted again, and Threepio translated. "Like I said: Great." He stared up at the ceiling, then turned to look back at Han, who was busy setting charges. "How long are you setting those for?"

"Three hours. Why?"

"C'Boath is here, in the Mountain Complex. And a bunch of the natives attacked the main entrance right about the time we were infiltrating from the rear."

Han stared at him. "And you want to go confront the crazy clone?"

"No, but..."

Han sighed. "Right." He turned to look at Roganda. "We're going clone-hunting."

Roganda frowned at him but didn't point out that they were standing in the middle of a clone-filled chamber. Instead she pulled some packets out of her vest pockets and handed one to each of them. "Basic first aid. Never know when you need it."

Han put it in one of his pockets. "Thanks."

"Be careful."

"Always try to be, Ganda. Always try to be."

* * *

Staring down into the huge chamber, Cam sighed. "What a waste."

Lando glanced at him, frowning. "What is?"

Cam motioned to their surroundings. "Wasted opportunity to learn."

"About clones?"

"No. Medical science."

"Ah."

* * *

A scream echoed in the back of her mind in time with small explosions around the room, and then the world opened up around her, and Roganda couldn't stop herself from reacting.

A sudden intake of breath and Cam turned to find her, pale as a sheet, and staring back at him with wide eyes. "Something wrong?"

"The Force," she told him. "Back." Roganda winced, glanced at the ceiling. "They're in trouble."

"Anything we can do from here?"

"No."

"Then let's finish what we came here to do and worry about it after." Cam paused, considering how distracted she seemed. "And what kind of trouble?"

"I'm... feeling some kind of echo from Luke. And something else." It reminded her of something bad. Very bad.

Cam nodded and pulled another thermal charge out, handed it to her. "All right. Go set this. Time is for three hours."

Roganda stared at the charge for a moment. "Where?"

"Where ever you want."

Cam watched her go, walking around to the other side of the big room gently, then returned his attention to the droids and frowned again. Maybe three hours wouldn't be enough.

* * *

Mara deftly plucked the lightsaber out of the dead clone's hand and simply stared at it for a moment or two. It had Luke's face, but not his awareness, and there'd been no recognition of anything from it after the Force had returned. That was what had finally gotten her riled enough after Luke couldn't fight anymore due to the clone-induced migraine. There had been nothing behind those blue eyes. No, Luke was behind her, recovered enough now to ask her if she was okay. *I'm fine. Take care of C'Boath, would you?*

Luke's reply was cut off by a loud cackle that made them both wince. "Easier said than done, Mara."

And then a forth voice made them blink in confusion: *How come no one told me there was an insane clone of a Jedi Master on the loose?! Do you three need back-up?*

Mara turned and frowned at Luke, mouthing 'Ganda?' in silent question. At his nod, she glanced at C'Boath, who appeared very confused. *Um... no.*

*You're sure?*

*For now.* Inwardly, Mara was wondering if maybe, just maybe, it was a good sign that Roganda was using the Force to communicate over long distances after spending so much time blocking herself on purpose. She'd been dubious at first over the whole training thing, but... perhaps it was her own doubts about her own path that was coloring her opinion on the subject. Hard to tell.

Securing the extra saber to her belt, Mara turned and stood to face a very angry Joruus C'Boath. Ten minutes suddenly felt like an eternity.

* * *

When the energy from the dark force explosion cleared at last, Mara was stunned at the extensive damage done to the room. More so where C'Boath had been standing than anywhere else. She looked around, nodding when she found Solo at Luke's side where he'd ended up against a wall, and continued to survey the damage. Then her mind caught up with her and suddenly she was running to join Solo at Luke's side. "Did he get blown over here?" She winced at the burns on his exposed hands and face.

"Yes," Han said as he immobilized Luke's neck with his hands. "Get on the comm and find Vectrol."

Mara frowned at him for a moment before realizing whom he meant. *Roganda, we need a Medic up here.*

"We're already on our way," Roganda's voice spoke out from the comms device on Han's vest. "Remember the packets I gave to you three? Use that on burns and minor cuts."

Mara blinked and pulled the mentioned packet out of her vest pocket. She'd forgotten about it. "Oh." She started with his hands.

Luke groaned suddenly, coming to. Then he stared up at Han. "You can let go."

Han shook his head. "No. Good sign, though, kid."

Luke glanced at Mara without moving his head, feeling the effect of whatever she'd used working already. "I'm fine."

"Tell us that when you haven't been thrown against a wall and don't have burns," Han muttered at him indignantly. "The answer is no, not until Vectrol clears you."

Luke gave up the argument, knowing Han was serious. "That stuff tingles."

Mara smiled down at him. "Then I guess it's working."

* * *

Cam arrived and immediately declared Luke as having a concussion, but not a spinal injury, so Han could let go of his head... just as soon as he wanted to. After hearing the chain of events, the exam turned to one of poking, prodding, and questions like who was chief of state, most annoying high council member, and if Luke had ever had a pet while growing up. The answers: Mon Mothma, Borsk Fey'lya, and "no" on the pet question made them laugh but did not get Luke cleared to move around of his own volition. At Luke's protests, Cam shook his head. "I'm worried about internal bleeding. Someone call the Noghri outside and tell them to rustle up a shuttle so we can get back to the Falcon faster."

At the mention of internal bleeding, Luke grabbed Mara's hand. "Trance. Help me."

Mara nodded and did her best to guide him to it. When he was safely under, she sighed in relief and glanced at Cam. "Force healing trance."

Although surprised, Cam nodded. "Good. Any help is good help at this point." He looked hard at her, then at Han. "You both have first degree burns. Not too bad, but..." He rooted around in Luke's vest pockets, and came away with another packet, which he handed to Han, who had finally let go of Luke's head. "Use that on yourself."

Mara tucked the packet she'd used into a pocket in her vest and thanked Han when he handed her the one he'd had in his vest.

* * *

Aboard the Falcon in hyperspace, Mara had time to wonder if this was how he'd felt when he had sat by her hospital bed a month ago. He was in a healing trance now, but when he'd been awake he hadn't seemed to be aware of any pain. Maybe that was the adrenaline still working in his system. It was hard to know which it was, and Cam had said that a concussion could be a tricky thing. Also, that normally it was good to keep patients with concussions awake or wake them every hour.

The door opened and Mara glanced up to find Han looking in at her. At them. "Hi."

Han looked from her, to Luke, and back again. "Hey. Just wanted you to know we'll be at Corellia in another hour or so." At her frown, Han shrugged. "Vectrol's request. Other than that, no idea."

"He'll be fine," she muttered.

"I know that, but it's safer to listen to the medic. Head injuries and the possibility of internal bleeding is nothing to sneeze at." He came all the way in and let the door shut. "And speaking of that, the sneezing I mean. Did you ask Vectrol for advice about it?"

"He cleared me on the way to Wayland, Solo."

"That's not what I mean."

She knew that, but it was the unknown that kept her from asking for extra help. She glanced down, suddenly realizing what was still clutched in her hand. The first aid packet. Curious, she raised it to her nose and sniffed in curiosity, and was stunned at the sudden familiarity. So stunned that she had no warning and was blindsided by a deluge of images.

A man and a woman, both familiar, but the woman more so as they ate an uneasy dinner together. The man studying a familiar plant. Sneaking into the house for plants at night to play among the vines and enjoy the feeling of life around herself. Being grabbed from behind and the sudden smell of something bad. Blackness.

A long trip in an unknown shuttle. Palpatine at the landing pad. An attempt to bond with this then-unknown person resulting in being locked in a dark room alone for a long time. Pain. Forgetfulness. Remembering suddenly, and more pain.

That smell. It always came back to that smell... until finally it no longer entered into any part of her life and was replaced by other, incredibly revolting, smells. Training had at one point taken place in a sewer under the palace in the dark. A sewer where things of a different sort lived and were far less friendly.

It made her wonder how many times she'd ended up in some kind of sewer when she was young, or freezing on a roof with a sniper rifle. One extreme or the other, didn't matter.

And then her vision cleared and Mara was again sitting on the floor of a cabin aboard the Millenium Falcon beside the bunk on which Luke was still sleeping. And now the medic was seated in front on her, watching her intently. "What?"

"Something I should be asking you, Lady Jade," Cam told her calmly. "You zoned out for twenty minutes."

She stared at him. "Huh?"

Cam motioned to the empty packet still in her hand. "Solo said you sniffed that and then 'went away.' Mind telling me what happened on your end?"

"Memories." Of my parents? She wondered, thinking back to that uneasy dinner, and what could only have been a vision of that same woman on the way to Berchest. Only... in the vision, she was years older and not pregnant. It still didn't make any sense.

"Ah."

She studied him for a moment or two. "Why are you so concerned, anyway? You barely know me."

Cam hesitated, glancing behind her to the man laying unconscious on the bunk, then looked her in the eyes. "That I barely know you is not the issue, Miss Jade. Right now, you are a patient. That makes it my concern."

Something in his eyes told her that he was not relating the whole truth of the matter. "Right." Mara held up the empty packet. "What is this stuff?"

He barely glanced at it. "Neandran First Aide Powder. Some biologic research scientists first discovered that a plant native to a planet called Naboo had healing properties and the powder, this powder, has been in infrequent use ever since." At her frown, he shrugged. "That's all I know about it. Not my area of expertise, dealing with stop-gap anti-infection agents."

Mara nodded and pocketed the packet, filing away for later consideration about how he'd barely even looked at the packet and still known what it was. There was something strange going on, and it wasn't just her memories, which seemed to indicate she'd been kidnapped as a child. How trustworthy was her memory, though?

"Jade?" He waited until she looked at him again. "Whatever those memories are that swept you away for twenty minutes, don't just brush it to one side and ignore it. Could be important, could be last week's lottery numbers."

Mara frowned at him. "Lottery numbers?"

"Long story related to planetary education funding."

"Oh."

He moved to get up and leave, but stopped at the door and looked back at her. "What I'm trying to say is that every memory is important, no matter how unreal or seemingly inconsequential."

Understanding his meaning, Mara nodded. Luke had said something similar with different words just after she'd woken up on Coruscant. "When life hands you profrogs, make stew?"

"Something like that, yes."

* * *

Roganda glanced away from her perusal of a datapad as Cam sat down across from her at the Dejarik table. It took a moment to realize he was frowning at her. "What?"

"You owe me one. Or rather, you owe Medic Melyan."

"Why?"

"That's the real reason I'm on this mission and not someone else: because I know a little something about neuro-psychiatry."

Roganda blinked at him. "What?"

"You can't ask someone for medical supplies after they'd watched you both have a flashback and listened to you talk about an incident from your childhood involving someone else's supposed amnesia." He saw back, still glaring at her. "You can't do that and expect there not to be ripples of some kind."

"And you're... that ripple?"

"In a way." He paused and the glare softened slightly. "You were right, by the way. The powder is, was a trigger. But don't ask her, because she doesn't yet trust that whatever it is might be real."

Roganda nodded slowly. "Thank you for the warning... and the chewing out."

He glanced behind her at Han, who had obviously over heard at least some of it. "Any time."

* * *

Mara had been on Corellia a few times before, but had not ever visited either the medical center near the Coronet spaceport, or CorSec headquarters. She was only visiting both now due to Luke's medical condition and Roganda's need to have someone alone who wasn't a medic, a gambler, a talky protocol droid, a former smuggler turned Rebel Alliance general, an astromech, or a tall and furry Wookiee. At least, that was the reason Roganda gave her. She suspected that not to be the case and instead thought the woman was trying to distract her while they dunked Luke in bacta just to be on the safe side. "So who do you know at CorSec headquarters?"

"More a parent of a friend than someone I know directly," Roganda told her as they entered the building. She paused, turned, and smiled slightly. "Seems one of us has picked up a tail. With fur."

Mara turned, noted the small animal, shrugged, and turned back. "So?"

Roganda resisted the urge to laugh and they continued into the building. She stopped in front of what seemed to be the reception desk. "We're looking for Officer Moira Melyan." The human male seated there studied them for a moment before giving directions. "Thank you."

* * *

It was a slow day, Moira reflected as she read a case file on a missing person and tried to concentrate. The squadroom was unusually subdued, and it was making her uneasy. Or maybe the thing that was making her uneasy was unrelated to the lack of activity. The more she ignored whatever was pulling at her unseen, the more insistent the urging becoming.

And then a feminine voice broke into her thoughts. "Officer Melyan?"

Moira looked up from the case report to find two women standing at her desk. One was a red head, young, mid-to-late twenties, with an air of secretness about her. The other was a brunette, maybe early thirties... oddly with that same impression going on. "Can I help you?"

The brunette smiled. "I sure hope so, Moira."

Moira blinked at the familiarity. "And you would be?"

The brunette held out her hand and lowered her voice. "Roganda Janson. I know your son. Don't worry, he's fine, but we were in the area, so..."

Moira shook the woman's hand. "Ah." She glanced at the red head, then blinked when she noticed a Spukamas at her feet. "And you are?"

"Mara," the woman told her curtly.

Moira had to stifle a chuckle as she stood up. "We don't normally allow pets inside headquarters, Mara"

Both of them blinked and looked down to find the black furry creature looking back at them with curious golden eyes. Then Mara sighed. "It's not mine. It followed us."

Moira lost the battle as she led the two of them to a more private room for talking, the Spukamas following them closely. She managed to hide her amusement with a cough, but only barely. "So... what about my son?"

Roganda sighed as they took seats around a very plain conference table. "He wants training, Jedi Melyan."

Moira went very still at the use of the word. Even now, even here, years after the fall, the Jedi weren't really spoken of. Ever. "Oh?"

Roganda rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You have nothing to fear or hide from. Not here and now. I only know of your credentials because I had a very long talk with your son and then shifted through archive records for several hours when he asked me for training in how to use his lightsaber. You'll never know how hard it was to piece it together with fragmented information... Padawan Basavan. Apologies for dropping in on you like this, but I needed to ask you about Darvis. As in, if he wanted it, would you allow someone else to teach him?"

Mara frowned at her. "You have access to Palpatine's archives?"

"Not everything was destroyed in the takeover, nor was Isard as clever as she thought she was. So... sort of."

"Ah."

Moira finally let out the breath she'd been holding in. "He asked you teach him?"

"After he saw me use it to spar." At Mara's disbelieving snort, Roganda glared at her. "Was so."

"Luke passed out from exhaustion after that," Mara pointed out, a cool edge to her voice that made Roganda wince visibly.

"And I was emotionally overwrought, so you can't hold that against me."

"Okay," Moira suddenly said, surprising them both. "If my son wants to learn from you, then let him learn." She pulled a card out of her uniform pocket, wrote a comm code on it. "Contact me if you have questions." Then she handed the card to Roganda, who pocketed it.

"Just like that?" Roganda wondered.

Moira studied both of them, knowing without a doubt that the nudge she'd been getting for half the morning was these two. She could see the echoes of old pain reflected in Roganda's eyes that told of lessons learned and things lost. And Mara... there was something familiar about the red head. Almost as if she'd met a member of her family at some point but couldn't quite place the resemblance. "No, not just like that. I get the feeling I can trust you, that he'll be safe in your tutelage. I'd have done it myself, but it was never the right time, and by the time he was ready, he was away on Sacorria undercover." Roganda nodded, seemingly satisfied at that explanation. Moira glanced at Mara, then looked under the table at the cat curled up at her feet. "You do know that a Spukamas can spontaneously adopt someone, right?"

Mara sighed. "I have never had a pet, Officer Melyan. I'm not looking into getting one now."

Moira frowned as Mara's eyes went momentarily distant, and then she came out of it and muttered something that sounded like 'spindle.' "Just warning you."

Mara blinked in confusion and shook her head. "I appreciate it."

Moira stood up. "So... can I give you a tour of headquarters, or do you need to get going?"

Roganda glanced at her wrist chrono. "I think we've got time." And then she fixed Moira with a pleading expression that seemed to say 'Please, for the love of Palpatine's blackened, charred, and particulate remains, help me keep her occupied!'

Moira smiled. She could do that. "What brings you to Coronet, anyway?"

"Corellia was the closest planet that our medic trusted with a medical center," Mara told her. "Why he had a problem with Sluis Van, I still don't know."

Moira nodded and opened the door, showing them back out into a corridor. "That way is the squadroom, which you found me in, so we'll go the other way. Ever seen a dispatch center?"

"Only on Hoth," Roganda muttered under her breath as Moira led the way.

* * *

Luke, when he awoke, did so to Han's concerned countenance. He blinked a few times, frowning at Han. Han was here, but... and as he stretched out through the Force, he found her and answered his own question. "Why isn't Mara here?"

Han chuckled. "Good evening to you, too, Kid. Ganda's kept her occupied all afternoon."

"Oh."

"How do you feel?"

Luke sat up and was relieved that the disconcerting dizziness was gone. "Better. Why do I have the taste of bacta in my mouth? And where is here?"

"Because you did, in fact, have some internal bleeding to go with that concussion and I don't believe in mumbo-jumbo Force healing trances alone curing anything," Cam told him from the open door. "Even if I'm wrong and you're right, it's still better safe than sorry. And here is a medical center on Corellia."

Luke stared at him. "Don't believe in healing trances? It cured Mara!"

"Maybe." Cam came over and pulled a pen light out of his pocket, shining it in Luke's eyes quickly. "Better. Follow the light for me? Thank you."

"I'm fine," Luke told him.

Cam glared at him mildly and held up a hand to forestall Han from saying anything. "Yes, and right now I'm your doctor. Patience now, and you can be grumpy all you want about medical procedure later." At Han's ill disguised snort of laughter, Cam glanced at him. "Problem?"

"Nope."

"Glad to hear it, General." Cam turned back to Luke and asked him a series of questions, all of which Luke answered correctly, and the last of which ("How do you feel knowing Vader is your father?") earned him a glare. "Okay. I'm satisfied. Go ahead and get dressed in your own clothes."

Luke watched Cam leave and shut the door, then looked at Han. "How'd we end up with him on this mission, anyway? It can't be because his superior thinks he doesn't get off the planet enough."

Han gave Luke his clothes and waited while he changed out of the hospital gown. "I think it's more that Ganda acted odd in front of a medical person than it is the other thing, Luke."

"Huh?"

"Mara had some kind of episode where she zoned out for twenty minutes while you were unconscious. The medic took it in stride and immediately after he was sure she was fine, I spotted him having a small discussion with Ganda. Over heard enough to now be suspicious." At Luke's curious frown, he shrugged. "Something about a Medic Melyan and ripples."

Luke blinked at that. "Medic Melyan fixed my hand."

"Your hand needed fixing?"

Luke nodded. "I didn't get it fixed after I broke out of that shed on Mrykyr. Waited because it was working fine then." At Han's incredulous expression, Luke winced. "What? There's been a lot going on!"

A knock on the door forestalled anything Han might have said, as Cam returned with Lando following him into the room. "Oh, good. You're decent."

"Medic Vectrol?" Han asked pointedly, still glaring at Luke.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind checking the kid's hand over? Seems he might need a diagnostic or two."

"It's fine now," Luke told him quickly. "Not even a twitch."

Lando shook his head, amused at the now-silent argument going on between them as Cam sighed and left to go get something. "Not a bad idea, though. You were just in bacta."

"Since when has that had any affect on cybernetics?"

"Better safe than sorry," Cam interrupted them, coming back into the room. "Besides, it's standard procedure to check things like that." He pulled the bedside table over to the bed and motioned for Luke to have a seat. "Humor is, Jedi Skywalker."

"What if I don't want to?" Luke muttered as he sat down on the bed again.

"I could always confine you to the couch for a week," Han told him teasingly.

"Leia would wonder why," Luke shot back, glaring at Han again.

"True, but she's also been on bed rest recently herself. Probably still would be if the doctors had their way," Han said as he watched Cam set up to test Luke's hand. "Right Doc?"

"Wouldn't say that," Cam told him conversationally as he gestured for Luke to present his hand, which he did reluctantly. "It's been more than a week, and that's enough. Now, if there'd been complications, different matter entirely."


	22. Chapter 22

Luke was considering turning the Dejarik game on when he saw the hospital identification bracelet still adorning his wrist. Inspecting it curiously for a long moment, he frowned. That wasn't his name. "Skywander?"

Mara tilted her head in curiosity. "What?"

"This thing says Skywander." Luke turned to find Cam leaning against a bulkhead, attempting to read a datapad while covertly watching both them and Roganda as she slept in one of the other chairs. "Skywander? Really?"

Cam glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "Back before I joined the Alliance, years before you blew up the Death Star at Yavin, we had a severely injured patient transferred to the hospital I worked in from a Star Destroyer. The name on the order was Skywander... and the ship in question was the Executor. It was never confirmed or denied one way or the other, but..." His eyes went distant for a moment before Cam shook his head and returned to reading the datapad. "Anyway, just because I might have hospital privileges at a hospital on Corellia because they know me, does not mean I trust local law enforcement not to arrest anyone. So yes... your ID bracelet has a fake name on it. Possibly even one your father the Sith used when he thought he was being sneaky."

Luke stared hard at Cam, blinking in near-disbelief. He could believe it, but... "What happened to that patient?"

"She lived," Cam told him curtly, levering himself off the bulkhead. "Vouched for my team and I when we defected. That's the only part of that long story that I'm going to tell you." He paused for a moment. "That, and don't anger Dr. Moss... she tends to sing children's songs to people who are deservedly hung over."

Luke frowned. "Where are you going?"

Cam motioned to Roganda. "To get Solo. She's not sleeping, even if it looks like it."

Luke watched the man leave, then turned his attention to Roganda... who wasn't sleeping. Her breathing pattern was wrong for that. "Odd."

"Luke," Mara suddenly said, her tone making him turn to look at her. She'd stood up, Dark Star still purring in her arms. "Whatever she's doing, he's right."

Right then, Han and Chewie appeared and Han went to Roganda while the Wookiee hung back at a watchful distance. Luke moved to ask what the big deal was, but Han waved him off without actually looking at him. "Later, Kid. Later." So chastised, Luke simply nodded and waited for whatever they seemed to think was incoming.

Roganda opened her eyes a moment later, and blinked in surprise to find Han kneeling in front of her, a concerned expression on his face. "Bastard."

Han frowned at her. "Huh?"

"Not you."

"Oh. Who?"

"It's a good thing he's dead."

"Ah."

She continued to frown at him. "Aren't you supposed to be driving?"

"Vectrol got all concerned."

Roganda laughed. "Oh. You can go back to the cockpit now."

"You're sure?"

She grabbed his hand, smiled genuinely. "Yes. Tell you later." Han nodded, stood back up, exchanged at knowing glance with Chewie, and returned from whence he came. Chewie stayed behind and sat down in the seat Mara had vacated.

Roganda looked at Mara, and proceeded to keep a straight face at seeing something so cute. No need to tell the woman how adorable she looked with a cat in her arms. "He was right, by the way."

"Who?"

"Luke."

"I'm right here," Luke pointed out impatiently. "What was I right about? And why is it good that someone is dead? You're confusing me."

"Palpatine." At Luke's confused silence, Roganda smiled. Or tried to. It came out as more of a grimace. "You were right about the do or do not thing. You, Solo, and Cam all told me the same thing in varying ways. So... I did. I figured it out, why I couldn't say what I wanted to say." She glanced at Mara again. "You still have that empty packet?"

Mara was still frowning. "Yes. Why?"

"Because those memories you had surface are real... and Cam was furious with me for going with subtle without telling anyone."

"What?"

Roganda sighed. Time to attack this from another angle... "You have a vague memory of seeing someone who resembles me, say a child of ten years of age, right?"

"Yes." Mara stared at her, unblinking. "How do you know that?"

"Because that's how you know me, how we met for the first time... when you were in the Palace Gardens, sniffing the flowers that the Neandran Powder is derived from. Your words were... disquieting." More so for an orphan like herself, really.

Mara's eyes went distant for a moment. "Something about it not being home?"

Roganda glanced at Luke, who was watching them both with wide eyes, and smiled. "Something like that, yes. How do you know now?"

Mara blinked, shook her head. "Cam tripped it. When he was clearing me for the mission. Do you know what happened after that?"

Internally, she winced. Oh, she had a fair idea of what occurred after that, but did it matter now? No. "Not important, and no, I don't. It's best not to think about ways you'd want to hurt or maim or kill the man for what he did. For taking you away from your family... he's dead. It won't change anything now."

They were silent for a minute or so before Luke decided to change the subject slightly. "How does 'do or do not' factor into this?"

"Had to meditate on what was stopping me from being able to say anything," Roganda told him earnestly. "Didn't want to. Got told at least three times in differing ways to do it."

"Oh." Luke still didn't quite understand the logic behind it, but... not everything was logical. "So what was it?"

"Honorable silence." There was a very long pause while two humans and a Wookiee stared at her in confusion. The cat in Mara's arms paid her no mind. Roganda sighed and glanced at Luke again. "You know I'm an orphan, and you knew, or at least talked with, Palpatine. He was a politician. Sometimes the slimy thing to do is the simple one: play on the sympathy of another person. That's what he did... he played on the sympathy of a ten year old. As in: it hurts to remember, and talking about it, whatever IT is, is painful, so why talk about it?" She caught Chewie's surprised but understanding head-tilt and nodded in acknowledgement. "Only... it had become so ingrained to not talk about the painful things in the past, that by the time I finally tried to say something, I couldn't."

"I understand," Mara said suddenly as she sank into the other chair at the monitor station, Dark Star again ending up in her lap as she did so.

Roganda studied her for a long moment, noting how nature it was in her posture to be holding such a creature. "Back at CorSec headquarters, you said you'd never had a pet. Are you sure?" She held up a hand, forestalling Luke's inevitable question. "Later."

"We were meeting with and getting a tour from a relative of someone she knows," Mara said, answering the obviously unspoken question from the peanut gallery.

Roganda looked at Luke, eyebrows raised. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"Not his fault," Mara told her before Luke could say anything. She released the hold she'd had on Dark Star and the cat jumped down from her lap. They watched as she wandered all around the lounge area before finally curling up at Chewbacca's furry feet. Mara chuckled briefly and then turned her gaze to Roganda. "You're not wrong. After I said that to Moira, I had this flash of playing with a kitten and made myself a liar."

"Named Spindle?"

"Bindle, actually." She motioned to Chewie. "His color fur... more or less." Mara noticed Luke's amused expression and frowned at him. "What?"

"On our way to Berchest, when I meditated without meaning to? I had a vision of you and Dark Star." He glanced under the table where the feline was curled up and watching them. "And toys. Still feels slightly surreal to see her here."

"That explains why you balked at seeing her," Roganda noted.

"I did not balk."

"Did so."

Mara sighed. "So you saw me with a cat and didn't think it worth mentioning?"

"I thought I'd hallucinated the whole thing," Luke admitted sheepishly. "Until an hour or two ago, you didn't strike me as a cat person." He winced at her wry expression. "What?"

Mara stood up, went over to him, and kissed him squarely. Then she cupped his chin and smiled sincerely. "Nothing. Just... this bond is taking some getting used to for both of us. It's a relief to know that we don't know everything about each other automatically."

"Because I didn't take you for a cat person?" Luke wondered.

"No. Because you shrugged it off and didn't ask." She paused. "Not that I would have known the answer then, that is."

Luke slid over and she joined him. "There is that."

He was about to say more, but Dark Star hopped up into Mara's lap again and effectively stopped the discussion in it's tracks. Instead, he chuckled and scrached the dark feline behind the ears.

They stayed that way until the Falcon landed on Coruscant.


	23. Chapter 23

The call came at just the right time: right as she was preparing to leave Coruscant with Talon Karrde. Leia frowned at the aide who had caught up to her with a yell. "Can't it wait?"

The aide shook his head. "No, ma'am. General Solo was very insistent."

Not having expected that, Leia blinked in surprise. "You're sure?"

"Yes." The aide was left to stand there with Talon Karrde as Leia went to find the nearest comm station. "So... with everything you must do as a trader, get out to Lamarred much?"

Karrde simply shook his head. "Not much, no. It's very out of the way."

The aide nodded. "It is."

"You?"

"Only if I manage to find a ship going that far out and get an expenses paid vacation. You can guess how often something like that would happen."

Karrde nodded, knowing that the man was also uncomfortable making small talk.

Leia came back just then, smiling. "They'll be here in a few hours."

"So we don't have to go get them out of anything, hmm?"

"No."

Karrde glanced at the aide again. "So are you actually from Lamarred?"

"No. I just like what I've read about the place," the aide told him truthfully before nodding to Leia and taking his leave.

Karrde watched the man go for a long moment before turning to Leia. "Interesting people you've got working here, Councilor."

* * *

Leia frowned as she watched her husband, Chewie, brother, Lando, Roganda, the droids, another man she vaguely recognized as a medic, and Mara, disembark from the Falcon. It wasn't their appearance so much as what Mara was carrying in her arms that gave Leia pause, even as the vaguely familiar medic was met a few feet away by a woman who had been quietly waiting with her and Karrde.

As Mara got closer, Leia blinked in surprise. No, her eyes hadn't been deceiving her. That really was a cat Mara was holding.

Han greeted her with a touch of the hand and turned to follow her gaze, nodding to himself. "Oh. It seems Mara was adopted while on Corellia." He paused, glanced at Leia to find her staring. "Leia?"

Leia shook her head slowly, managed a smile she didn't quite feel. "Adopted?"

"The little thing followed us all around CorSec headquarters," Roganda supplied helpfully, drawing Leia's attention to her. "And then back to the medical center, and then to the spaceport where the ship was. I think you can get the idea of what happened next."

Karrde suddenly chuckled, reminding them he was there as he reached out and let the feline smell his hand. Then he looked at Mara with raised eyebrows, and she answered with a shrug. It was an odd thing, to see a woman like her holding something so cute and furry. As the animal looked up at him with golden, calculating eyes, his opinion changed somewhat. Maybe it wasn't really that odd...

Leia took a deep breath, let it out, and glanced in the direction of the now-departing couple. "Admiral Ackbar will be wanting a debriefing."

"Figured as much," Han muttered. "Now?"

"No. Tomorrow... after some of you have been medically cleared." She took a moment to glare at Luke, who shook his head defiantly. "What?"

"I'm fine," Luke told her.

"I can see that." She continued to glare at him. "And yet I got a comm from my husband yesterday telling me my brother was in bacta..."

Luke winced. "Do we really have to have this discussion here?"

"You would rather we had it in front of the Admiral?"

"No." Luke motioned to Han. "We already had it. Twice. And the first time, it was Mara in bacta, not me."

Mara mentally kicked him in the shins. _Leave me out of this one, Farmboy._

* * *

It took Luke about an hour or two after they'd disembarked from the Falcon, watched Cam be greeted passionately by Tamblyn on the landing pad, and gotten the update for what had gone on in their collective absence (spying trees, Imperial forces withdrawing after a decisive defeat, rumors from the Noghri of Grand Admiral Thrawn having died messily), but he did finally notice something was off when Mara left the Solo apartment without a word, having left Dark Star behind.

Standing on the roof now behind her, watching as she looked out over the city-scape, he felt a sense of familiarity... as if she'd done this exact thing, looking out at the city from a rooftop, many times. He didn't want to intrude on her thoughts, so he kept the curiosity to a dull throb as they stood there, separated by feet that felt like lightyears.

"It's different," she finally said, her voice carrying back to him, a sense of loss underlying the words. "It's different... not be standing here like this with a long-range weapon, waiting for the perfect moment to do what I'd been ordered to do."

"Which was?" Luke asked carefully, knowing without actually having to hear her say the words what she meant. Her ensuing silence spoke volumes. "Sorry." Slowly, he moved to her side and looked out with her. "Lots of activity today."

"Always is," Mara murmurred, sliding a hand around his waist, making the first move to include him in her circle. "Could be colder. It was, the first time I was on a roof for training."

He felt the shudder run through her at the memory, and then his teeth were chattering inexplicably. "I believe you."

"That's not why you came out here, though. Not to share in my remembrance of what I did and how I lived."

"Maybe it was."

She glanced at him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Not being as judgmental about it as I feel about myself right now. I wanted to hate him. Wanted to."

Now that, he could completely understand. "But?"

"But... he doesn't deserve even that much. And now I know I have a family out there somewhere. Or had." She frowned at him. "Why are you out here, anyway?"

Luke smiled slightly. "To be with you." He pulled the lightsaber off his belt that had been his father's and then his, handed it to her. "And to give you this."

She stared down at the lightsaber hilt, confused for a moment, then looked at him again. "I can't accept this, Luke."

"Why not?"

"It means too much to you for me to accept." She started to give it back to him, and he put up a hand to stop her. "What?"

"Think of it as a gift, then."

"A gift?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. A gift... in place of a ring."

Mara paused, turned to look at him fully. "Did I just hear you right? You want to give me a ring but don't have one to do so?"

"You're the one who said I was trying to go a little fast, Mara. That it was too much, too soon." He pushed her hand with the saber hilt back towards her. "So it's a little step to think about a bigger one."

Mara glanced at the hilt in her hand, considered it again. When he put it that way... how could she say no? She hitched it to her belt. "Okay. No other ideas now, Luke." Then something occurred to her. "By the way, where's Dark Star?"

"Probably still sitting on Han's lap."

Mara had a good, hearty chuckle as together they turned and spent a little while watching the traffic patterns of the city planet. Eventually, they'd have to go and be responsible adults again, but neither was thinking of that for the moment.

* * *

Leia sat down next to Han on the couch, smiling at how natural it looked with Dark Star on his lap. She reached out and let the animal sniff her hand before scratching her behind an ear. It felt so... normal to be doing this. Odd, but normal. A kind of normal she never thought she'd have again, really.

"Leia?" Han asked after a minute or two. "If you want to hold her..."

"No, she's fine where she is," Leia told him absently.

Han watched her for a moment or two. He'd never had normal like this, so it was a new experience. He also hadn't expected to become the favored sleeping place for a cat, either. "I saw that look you had when you first saw her."

It was an invitation to talk that she'd been wanting to avoid. One he wasn't going to let her out of. Leia took a deep breath, let it out through her teeth. "It was something good... and bad. She reminded me of times on Alderaan."

"Oh?"

"You know what a Pitten is, yes?"

Han frowned, thinking about it. He'd been to Alderaan once or twice on runs, but hadn't been there long enough to really understand certain things. This, he suspected from the context, might be a kind of animal. "Not really."

"It's a breed of feline native to Alderaan. About Dark Star's size."

Han reached over and cupped her cheek with his hand. "You don't have to explain any more than that."

Leia blinked as his hand drew her back to the present, grateful that he was willing to leave it at that. Slowly, she moved closer and leaned into him. There was no need for either of them to say anything further on the subject...

* * *

Luke let himself and Mara into the Solo apartment quietly and were met with a surprise. His sister and brother-in-law were asleep together on the couch, Dark Star audibly purring on Han's lap. He silently pointed this out to Mara and she smiled at the sight. _I'll go check on the twins._

_I'll come with you,_ Mara replied silently. Together, they crept back to where the twins were sleeping, and, satisfied, went back to the common room. _Think we should wake them?_

_No,_ Luke told her. He surprised them both by yawning suddenly.

Mara frowned at him. _Sit. It's been a busy couple of days._

_But..._

_Indulge me._

Luke wanted to protest that he wasn't tired, but how exactly does one protest something so obvious? He knew she'd pester him until he did so. So he did, in the nearest armchair. There wasn't much he could say when she had that look on her face.

* * *

Leia was woken out of a sound sleep by a baby's wail for attention. She pulled herself out of Han's embrace, and blinked when she found her brother and Mara asleep in separate armchairs. When had they arrived? And why hadn't Luke woken them up?

One, no... it was definitely two distinct wails... sounded again and she hurriedly heaved herself off the couch to go see to them.


	24. Chapter 24

Talon Karrde considered himself a generally good judge of character. This was why he hadn't asked Mara what had been going on with Skywalker ever since they had rescued him from Thrawn's Star Destroyer. It didn't matter, he trusted she knew what she was doing, and it was hilarious in it's own right watching the two of them dance around the subject the way they'd been doing.

The debreifing with Admiral Ackbar had been especially informative, and everyone in the room who hadn't known before that moment had winced when Mara and Solo explained in careful terms how Skywalker had ended up needing more medical treatment than a combat-trained medic could provide on-site. Being blown across a room by the energy release of a dying, insane clone of a Jedi Master, of all things, wasn't the explanation he'd been expecting. Even more curious: the medic himself was absent from this briefing, his report standing in for his actual presence. Karrde momentarily wondered why that was.

"So this facility?" Admiral Ackbar asked, leading them to their next order of business.

"Over Medic Vectrol's dislike of the idea of losing an on opportunity for medical research," Calrissian began blithely, "Blown up and destroyed. The natives cheered."

"And you," Han directed at Luke, "Missed quite an explosion. Again."

"Again?" Luke wondered, puzzled at that statement.

"The shield generator station on Endor?"

"Oh. Han, I didn't miss any explosions at Endor. As it was, I barely got off the Death Star in time. As it was exploding."

Han blinked at him, surprised. "Really?"

"Really."

It wasn't long after that, that the meeting was adjourned.

* * *

Mara almost didn't want to leave him as they stood in the shadow of Karrde's vessel, alone but for Dark Star in her arms. She could tell, from the uncertain expression on Luke's face, that he was on the verge of asking to go along. She was almost inclined to let him. "I'll be back."

Luke's posture relaxed, but only slightly. "Promise?"

"If only to have that meal together that we never actually got around to," she said with a teasing tone. "Breakfast with Solo and your sister doesn't really count."

"It's a date, then."

Mara smiled, turned to join Karrde who had been waiting at a polite distance, and stopped to look back at him. She started to say something else, but thought the better of it. No. No need to be actively sarcastic when things had been so nice.

* * *

Mara opened the door of her quarters to find Aves standing there in the corridor with a box. She frowned at him. "What's all this?"

Aves studied her for a long moment. "I saw the creature you brought on board, Jade. Do you have anything for it?"

"Not exactly. There hadn't been time to think about what to do for Dark Star, let alone get anything-" at the deepening of his frown, she paused. "What?"

"Nothing, really. I'm just glad I also included an informational datapad on pet care." He handed her the box. "Here. Have fun."

Pet care? She wondered as she watched him walk away. And was he laughing? Looking down into the box she was now holding, Mara found various odds and ends including string, a sock or two, and a bell.

Turning, she watched as the feline napped on the floor underneath the viewport. Ever since she'd brought her aboard, Dark Star had been particular about that wall, and she hadn't really thought about it much. Mara sighed as she set the box she'd been holding down on the low table.

Today, she was going to see about teaching the feline something.

'Call it a trial,' Mara thought as she pulled a bell out of the box and made it ring. Glancing over, she noted that the cat hadn't moved even a little. Strange... wasn't she supposed to at least pay attention to the noise?

Mara rang the little bell again, testing to see if Dark Star would at least look at her. When it didn't work, she began to get frustrated. 'Why isn't she looking at me? This much noise would make me look up or something...'

Ringing it incessantly only caused her to irritate herself, and Mara finally had to set it down. Getting angry just wouldn't help matters. No... it would just cause her Farmboy to be concerned and mentally call out to her to see what was going on.

What could she have told him? That her cat was ignoring her? And wasn't that one of the sillier things to have to tell anyone?

* * *

The ringing had stopped. That was what she noticed as she woke up. Whatever had infiltrated her sleep like so many sirens... had stopped. Pricking up her ears, she waited, preparing to react if it started again. She hated that noise. It brought to mind small dislikes and big ones, and people in bad outfits ringing a bell beside little red buckets. Buckets that could, and did, often fall over.

If that sound was here... was it safe? Were the people with the red buckets coming to get her? Whatever the situation, Dark Star unsheathed her claws, prepared to meet the bucket people head on with her ire.

* * *

The bell having failed, Mara picked up another item from the box and looked at it. A bone? What good would a bone do? She set that aside and pulled another item out... which turned out to be a sock. "All right... why would Aves put a sock in with things for animals?"

She glanced over again and saw that Dark Star was looking up at her with sudden interest. Fingering the sock in her hand as she made eye contact with the cat, Mara suddenly knew why. Why not? Smiling, she held the sock out toward Dark Star. The cat launched herself at it, and play was commenced.

* * *

The sock had been torn to shreds an hour ago, and Mara had, once again, had to find something else in the box. The something else had been a ball of string with a note on it saying "have fun" in bold lettering.

She hadn't gotten Dark Star to do anything more than go in circles and attack the string repeatedly, but... she was definitely having fun. It was relaxing to sit here and tease Dark Star with the string, just to see what she'd do.

The ball of string passed with flying colors.

* * *

After their second trade run stop, Karrde pulled Mara aside to talk to her. "I have a mission for you."

Mara studied him carefully. "Oh?"

"Yes." Here, Talon pulled out a small device that closely resembled a ship's beacon call, but less modern than she was used to seeing. "I'm sending you on an information hunt."

"For?"

His explanation of what she'd be searching for was somewhat more of a surprise than the out-of-date beacon call was. And, probably, harder to search for. No matter. She liked a challenge.


	25. Chapter 25

He'd only been back on Coruscant for six hours when his wife announced they were going to dinner to help celebrate a friend's achievement. As it was, his internal chronometer was sending him urgent rest warnings, so he had almost told her no. Almost, because the thought of dinner sounded good.

And that was another thing: as tired as he was at the moment, he could tell there was something on her mind. That she was waiting to discuss it, whatever it was.

So, here he was, fresh from an off-planet assignment which had involved working with smugglers and fighting for the same cause, eating a well-cooked meal at a friend's apartment. And listening to... medical talk?

"So it worked?"

His wife nodded solemnly to the lady medic for whom the dinner was for. "Worked so well that Cam gave me a lecture about things one does not do potential brainwashing victims." She glanced at him, noticed the confused expression that clearly had to be on his face, and winced. "Don't look at me like that, Wes."

"Brainwashing?" he wondered.

"It's complicated," Roganda told him, looking away.

The lady medic, whose name he now remembered again was Ailee, snorted in a very unladylike manner. "I'll say. You sent a woman into catatonia with first aide powder."

"Ailee, if you'd like, we could have a long talk about you siccing a neurologist on me. Especially THAT one."

Wes turned and looked at the other male in the room, who was now studiously picking at his food. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Darvis didn't even glance up from his plate. "Depends on if you want to hear about a game of badly-played sabaac that got interrupted by Imperial commandos. And if you go visiting to the Solo's to see the babies, they're in a different apartment now."

Roganda coughed. "Darvis..."

"What? It's all true."

"Didn't say it wasn't."

"But you'd also rather not talk about nightmares, either."

Wes was startled when she glared hard at Darvis, who still hadn't looked up from his plate. If he didn't know better, something was definitely going on between them. The tension in the room was thicker than snow on Hoth.

"Right now? Yes." Then the glare relaxed and so did her posture. Slightly. "And about that other thing? Also yes."

Now Darvis looked up, startled. "What?"

She laughed quietly at his reaction. "Just give me some time to figure out how to go about it and make a weapon of my own. Until then, we'll both be doing a lot of research. Good enough?"

Darvis nodded. "What changed your mind from maybe?"

"A trek through a forest with friends, and a short talk with your mother."

"Really?"

"Really. She seemed to think I should be very hard on you if it's what you really want."

Wes glanced at Ailee to find her holding back laughter, her shoulders shaking with the effort. "What's so funny?"

"Out of context? Not a thing," Ailee answered smoothly. "But in context... we ended up stealing a shuttle from a garrison because his mother put his cover at risk by sending him spare parts to make a lightsaber. Which he did. Twice."

"I love you, too, Ailee," Darvis muttered. "You done?"

"I could call my brother and sister-in-law and embarrass you further, if you'd like. I'm sure they'd love to hear that you want training from a woman had a flashback about a child who had possibly been brainwashed more than once."

Wes simply stared at her, then looked at Roganda. "We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

"Yes."

"Probably starting with how she-" Darvis paused when Roganda glared at him. "What?"

"You know what. I was upset. In a fair fight, he would have had the upper hand."

"Who?" Wes wondered.

Roganda sighed. "Luke."

"You had some kind of fight with Luke-" here, Darvis tapped him on the shoulder, held up a lightsaber that he'd pulled from somewhere, and nodded at Roganda. "Oh. Who won?"

"Emotional exhaustion," Roganda answered. "Nobody."

"Solo's original idea involved a punching bag," Darvis offered after a moment of silence. "Something about owning up on a promise to let her punch something, I think were his words."

Wes nodded slowly. Oh yes... they were going to have a long tomorrow after he'd gotten some sleep, for he had a pretty good idea of what kind of circumstance such a promise would have been made. And when.

* * *

He found her the next morning standing at the cooking unit in their kitchen, preparing the morning meal. "Roganda?"

"Hmmm?" She glanced at him, smiled. "Good morning, Wes. Breakfast?"

"Please." He waited until she was seated with him before saying anything else. "So... how much were you going to tell me before the beans were spilled for you?"

"None of it. It's over and done, and now I have to learn Jedi lore from Luke. What more do you want to know about it?"

He blinked at the defensiveness displayed. There was something beneath this, and it was more than Jedi stuff. "How about what's on your mind, hmmm? And also why you caused someone to go catatonic?"

Roganda looked at him for a moment before starting to eat her breakfast. Then she set down her fork. "You really want to know? I had a nightmare that sent me to Mon Mothma to convince her that the palace was going to be invaded by Imperials, and then the palace security team and I moved an entire apartment's worth of furniture and set it all up in another apartment that was safer. Also marked as unoccupied officially to everyone but security personnel. Based on a nightmare I had that was so real I can still taste it."

Wes absorbed that information for a minute as he ate slowly. "And?"

"And what?"

"Don't get defensive with me, woman. I know you too well."

She sighed. "And I was right, the palace was invaded by commandos during a badly-played game of sabaac while I was sitting watch with Darvis. I knew the leader. I'm not allowed anywhere near the secured medical wing at the NRI because I know him, and I don't want to know how their interrogations went either."

"How do you know him?" At the question, her eyes got distant and she resumed eating. Wes studied her as he ate the rest of his breakfast, intrigued beyond words at her reaction to a simple question. There was more there than she was willing to talk about, that much was certain. He'd waited this long for things to really be open, for her to share more about before, he could wait a while longer.

* * *

This was one of many stops she'd made for Karrde in a few short weeks, and it was starting to grate on her nerves at how little information she'd been able to turn up. It was starting to seem really pointless... and she didn't much like waiting in cantinas that couldn't even be called dives for people she normally wouldn't be caught dead talking to, either.

A nudge from the Force caught her attention as a man who had identical scars on both cheeks joined her at the table she'd chosen for it's visibility and strategic placement. From here, Mara could see everyone and the door at the same time.

The nudge of her farmboy tapped at her insistently again and she pushed back, smiled wryly at the man, and began to talk with him, all the while noting that it was fairly obvious the man had long needed to visit a dentist. He did, however, have an intriguing accent and an interesting view of things, so it wasn't a complete loss. If only he'd had more information...

On Coruscant, Luke received a mental image of a man with scars and bad teeth and decided that maybe he could wait to find out why she seemed so annoyed.

* * *

Hours later, Mara arrived back at her ship, tired and just wanting to be alone for a long while. The dark-haired man hadn't really been any help, and he'd propositioned her no less than six times in varying ways. It wasn't even tempting.

Speaking of... she reached out into the Force, knowing he'd be waiting impatiently. Almost immediately, she was wrapped in a tangible, but invisible hug. _Hi._

She jumped a little, startled, when Dark Star hopped up onto her lap, oblivious to the unseen presence in the room. _I must be projecting more than I thought if both of you are giving me this kind of attention._

His chuckle echoed around her. _Felt your annoyance earlier._

_Ah. Everything is fine, Luke._

_But you're not going to talk about it._

_No. We still on for dinner?_

_Just as soon as you get back to Coruscant. Soon?_

She paused. Could she? More importantly: should she? Looking down at Dark Star, she smiled. Of course she could. _Maybe._

_Right. Scratch the kitty behind the ears for me._

And with one more hug, Mara was left mostly alone with Dark Star looking up at her expectantly. Chuckling, Mara scratched her behind an ear.

* * *

Wes found her seated in front of a monitor, pouring through data on a computer monitor with an intense expression that rivaled Leia Organa Solo at her most focused. He watched her for a minute before waving a hand in front of her face to distract her.

Roganda sat back and stared up at him. "What?"

"Something is bothering you. Tell me?"

She sighed. "I'm just trying to figure out if there's some kind of Sith thing out there that works over long distances. So far... nothing."

Wes pulled up a chair and sat beside her. She'd kicked him awake more than once, so he knew this wasn't a spur of the moment information search. "Is there a reason?"

"Simple words spoken have been setting off memories of times that I heard him speak, or talked to him. If that makes any sense."

He considered that for a moment. "Have you discussed this with anyone but me?"

"No. There didn't seem to be a reason until now." Roganda gestured to the monitor. "And just because there's nothing in the database, doesn't mean such a thing didn't exist."

"And you're hoping it didn't. That it doesn't."

"Yes." She shuddered, frowned a moment, and glanced at the ceiling in puzzlement. "They really need to learn to shield themselves when they do that and aren't on the same planet."

Wes blinked, startled at the subject change. "Roganda..."

"What? They do!" Then she looked at him and seemed to realize he didn't quite know whom she was speaking of. "Oh. You'll love this."

Wes listened intently to her tale of his former squadron commander having finally gotten a girl, and nearly let her make him forget about the information search. Nearly.

* * *

Luke was woken out of a sound sleep by a sudden lack of air. He panicked at first, opening his eyes to find that his Force senses were not lying, and then relaxed into the kiss that lasted long moments, and even when Mara finally pulled away, it felt like she hadn't. He blinked up at her. "Hi."

Mara smiled down at him as she joined him on the bed. "Mind if I join you?"

Luke scooted over and made more room for her. "Please. How goes it out there?"

Her only response was a snore, causing Luke to blink in surprise. How had she fallen asleep that quickly?

* * *

Mara awoke to find Luke watching her intently and smiled brightly. "Good morning."

"Closer to mid-day, really. You went to sleep awfully fast."

"Was awake far too long." At his surprised but also concerned expression, she frowned. "What? Old habits are hard to break and I came straight to Coruscant after my last stop."

"And you got all over me for claiming I was fine when I clearly wasn't?"

Mara sat up and smiled at him. "Of course. Takes one to know one."

"How'd you keep me from feeling your exhaustion, hmmm?"

"Trade secret," she told him as she got out of the bed and looked down at her outfit for a moment. It was passable. Then she looked at him. "I left Dark Star alone last night on the ship. What say I go and tend to her and meet you back here for breakfast?"

Luke nodded. "Sounds good." He watched her go and suddenly wondered when he'd given her the entry codes for his apartment.

* * *

It was mid-morning when Han answered the door to find Mara standing there with Dark Star in a pet carrier. "Oh. Hi."

Mara hesitated, but only for a moment. "Could you watch Dark Star for me until tomorrow?"

Han frowned. What did she need him to do that for? Studying her, he decided there would be much avoidance of the subject if he did ask, so instead he held out a waiting hand. "Sure." She handed the carrier to him and turned to leave. "And Mara?"

"Yes?"

"Whatever it is... have fun."

Mara turned back to him, smiled lightly. "That's the plan."

Han watched her leave for a moment or two before closing the door and looking down at an apparently grumpy cat. When he let her out, she proceeded to ignore him outright and curled up on the couch. Shrugging, he went to check on the twins.

* * *

Luke had almost expected her to return with Dark Star in hand and was slightly perplexed when she returned with Dark Star in hand half an hour after leaving. In that that time, he'd taken a shower, gotten dressed, and begun to prepare breakfast for them both. It had also given him time to wonder just what she'd been doing meeting with seedy people.

"None of your concern," Mara said from behind him, where she was seated at the small table in what passed for a kitchen.

Luke glanced back at her. "What isn't?"

"My meetings. You know, the one like yesterday that you tried to talk to me during."

He glanced back at her again. Had he been projecting that much?

Her lips quirked into a small smile. "Yes and no. I saw a flash of the man I met with yesterday from you. The rest was a guess."

Luke returned his focus to the pan. "Oh. Mara, that's somewhat disconcerting when I didn't ask you."

A low chuckle made his insides churn. "Taste of your own medicine, then." She watched as he moved their breakfast onto plates and waited as he set the plates on the table. Then she stood up and embraced him so fast he didn't even have time to blink. "But, disconcerting or not, I wouldn't have it any other way."

He was so startled at the closeness that he nearly forgot about the food.

* * *

"So what is this place we're going to?" Luke wondered as he watched her pilot the shuttle gracefully through Coruscant's high atmostphere. "And why couldn't we have taken an air speeder instead?"

"It's too far for a speeder," Mara told him curtly. "And as for what it is... that's a surprise."

"So not even a hint?"

"No."

* * *

The building had looked like any other building in the district around it. Uniform. Ordinary. Warehouse-like... which was why the inside surprised him so much. There were exhibits of all kinds of animals and plant life, both extinct and not.

Finally, after passing an impossibly large skeleton of an undersea creature from Naboo and wondering how something like that could go unnoticed even under water, Luke couldn't stop himself from turning to Mara in curiosity. "What is this place?"

Mara smiled wryly. "This is the Republic Exobiology Institute and Museum. When the Imperial government took over, the scientists on staff here just kept right on working. I don't recognize the few we've seen today, but I was only ever here once at night when there were far less people around."

Luke nodded as they continued to stroll through the long corridors, looking at exhibits and stopping once in a while to inspect the more interesting ones. That was how they stumbled upon another giant skeletal exhibit, only this creature was marked as extinct. When he saw where the undersea mammal was from, Luke winced. Alderaan.

Mara leaned into his shoulder. "It's very... big."

"Yes," Luke replied after a moment or two. "Back at the apartment, when you said 'lets go look at animals', I thought you meant live ones."

"They have those, too. Just not on this floor." Or, if she remembered right, not in this building. The campus of the complex spanned for five city blocks.

"This doesn't get out of explaining what you've been doing for the past several weeks, you know."

Mara sighed inwardly. He just wasn't going to drop that, was he? "Information hunt. That's all I am telling you about it." She pulled his arm, guiding him down the hall. "More to see. Come on."

"Something alive?"

She smiled. "If you like."

* * *

The creatures were small and white, with big ears, tapered noses, and cord-like tails. They almost reminded Luke of rodents on Tatooine, but these were far more cute and fuzzy than anything, aside from Ewoks, he'd come across to date. "I was expecting something..."

"Not so small and fuzzy?" Mara prompted after a moment's pause.

"Yes. But small and fuzzy works." He glanced at the identifying tag on the cage, frowning as he remembered a long ago language lesson from Leia. "My grasp on Chandrilan isn't all that great. Is that a color?"

Mara inspected the I.D. tag. "It... might say 'pinky.' But that can't be right, can it?"

"That's his name," a nearby scientist told them with a smile. "Pinky. I'm Doctor Eden. Can I help you both? We don't often get visitors this far from the senatorial district."

Mara shook her head. "Thank you, Doctor Eden. And no. We're just visiting, and Luke wanted to see something alive after looking at all the exhibits." She motioned to the small creature in the cage that they'd been observing. "What is this one?"

"It's a Chandrilan mouse."

"Thank you." She turned back to Luke. "Seen enough?"

Luke nodded absently as he frowned at the identification plate on the next cage over. "Does this say something about neural tissue? And where is the one that's supposed to be in there?"

"Roughly translated, it means 'Brain,' and he's hiding. Again," Doctor Eden explained.

"Ah." Luke turned to Mara and offered her his arm. "Lead the way?"

"With pleasure."

Doctor Eden was left watching them go, all the while wondering why anyone would come to a research complex on what was very obviously a date.

* * *

Calmly enjoying the repast, he watched her from across the table. He'd booked an at-will reservation at this restaurant after she'd left with Karrde weeks ago. Luke had wanted to be prepared for anything, but had not expected it to be this soon. "You've been quiet since we left the institute."

Mara swallowed the bite she had in her mouth and looked at him. "Just thinking."

"Oh?"

"About what you said on the roof. A small step think about a bigger one?"

He paused in the middle of taking his next bite. "And?"

"And if we're on the same page in our meanings, I wouldn't be opposed to that next bigger step."

He was suddenly very glad she'd waited until he had nothing in his mouth to say that. "What?"

"Just so." Then she batted her eyelashes at him and resumed eating. _Eat your food, Luke. It's way better than that awful hospital food we endured for the sake of enduring it._

She had him there. It most certainly was.

* * *

Leia arrived home from a council session ready to tell her husband to begin packing, and was stopped in her tracks when she saw the dozing black animal on their couch. Blinking in surprise, she entered their kitchen to find him cooking at the stove. "What is Dark Star doing here?"

"We're pet sitting until tomorrow," Han told her as he moved the pot to the table where food was waiting. "And you're right on time." Leia glanced out into the living room through the open adjoining door, wondering why Mara would have wanted them to pet sit. "Leia?"

"Hmm?"

"Wondering why will just lead to unanswerable questions."

Leia nodded, knowing he was right, and sat down to enjoy a nice meal with her husband.

"There's something you want to tell me, isn't there?" Han asked suddenly, studying her tense posture.

"Other than Imperials rushing to fill the void that Thrawn left? No."

"I'll do some prep work on the Falcon tomorrow, then."

Leia smiled inwardly, glad she didn't have to voice the obvious.

* * *

They'd been back at his apartment for ten minutes before Luke finally broke the companionable silence that had existed between them since the end of dinner.

"Did you mean it?" he asked as they sat together on the couch, leaning against the cushions.

Mara smiled at him thoughtfully. "Of course. I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

Luke sat up and reached for her hand. "I wasn't prepared to ask this tonight, so I don't have any of the normal things a person would have when asking."

"Doesn't matter," Mara told him sincerely. "Ask anyway."

Luke took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes. "Will you marry me, Mara Jade?"

"Yes," she answered and leaned in to seal her answer with a kiss. The kiss grew and deepened until both forgot they were on his couch. Somehow, though neither could later remember exactly how, they eventually made it to his bed, and... said nothing else for the rest of the evening.


	26. Chapter 26

Waking early the next morning, Mara stared blissfully into the darkness at the ceiling. She didn't want to move. Didn't want to go anywhere. Didn't want to ruin the peaceful calm of laying here with him and let the reality of responsibility intrude. Here, they were together, and here, they'd shared so much without actually saying anything... so, so much. Listening to him snore softly next to her only made her want to move less.

But move she would have to do, if she ever wanted to get to Trallus on time to meet up with her mission partner and compare notes. Luke snored again, rolled over into her, and she smiled. Duty or more quality time like this, this morning? What kind of a choice was that?

Sighing, she gently pushed him away and carefully got out of the bed, wanting not to wake him. It failed when a hand was suddenly holding her wrist firmly, stopping her from continuing her unwanted exodus. "It's not what you think."

"Were you just going to go without saying a word?"

Mara cringed at the disappointment in his voice as she turned to find him looking sleepily up at her in the half-light. "I have to be on Tallus in two days."

"So you were leaving?" he asked again, pressing that particular point.

Once she found her clothes, that was exactly what she was going to do. "Yes. I didn't want to wake you." Mara bent to kiss him on the lips, savoring this moment with him. _I promise never to leave our bed again without first making you aware of my doing so... that is, if I'm actually leaving the planet, too._

_I'll hold you to that,_ Luke sent back with a mental smile. Then he released her wrist and was asleep again in moments.

Mara sat there on the edge of the bed, watching him for long minutes with a soft smile. She'd been a little apprehensive about this bond of theirs from the start, because it was awkward and strange to know someone cared about her welfare, and her as a person, that much. But now... it was sweet that he'd pull himself from sleep long enough to let her know she mattered to him.

Reminding herself of where she had to be in two day's time, Mara found her clothes, made short work of getting dressed, and left the apartment.

* * *

Knowing that waking anyone at this hour would be cruel and unusual punishment, especially for a couple with infants, Mara quietly let herself into the Solo apartment and set about gathering up her companion. Han wandered through the living room in a bathrobe, saw her coaxing a resistant Dark Star into the carrier, and frowned. "Mara?"

"Just go back to sleep, Solo."

"It's a little early, you know."

She lifted her head, glared at him mildly. "That's why I let myself in rather than wake you."

Han glanced between her and the door. "You have our entry codes?"

"I used to live here in the palace." Mara paused, closed the carrier door, and looked at Dark Star as she glared up at her grumpily. "And you didn't change 'em after I was here last with Luke."

"Oh. Why so early?"

"I have to be on Tallus day after tomorrow. That means I have no time."

Han nodded sleepily. "What's on Tallus?"

"Another contact." She glanced at him, noted the raised eyebrows. "Karrde's call. Not mine."

He nodded again, turned, and went back to bed. "Close the door when you leave."

Mara chuckled softly, pulled a piece of flimsy out of her pocket, and moved to set it in an obvious place on the kitchen table. Then she smiled, picked up the cat in her cat carrier, and quietly let herself out.

Later, when Han awoke for the day and started making breakfast, he found it on the table...

_Solo,_  
_Thank you for having Dark Star over. I volunteer _  
_for babysitting duty when next I'm on Coruscant _  
_and you two want an evening out._  
_-Jade_

* * *

Meeting Luke for practice, Roganda noticed the ever-present smile and had to wonder what had changed to make him so happy. It was unlike him to smile that much.

The session ended when she succeeded in levitating three feet off the floor for more than five minutes, and Luke gave her a reading assignment involving data he'd recovered from the ship that had crash-landed on Dathomir.

"Um... why?"

He stared at her, eyes narrowing. "Theory is just as important as meditation."

"That so?"

"I could always make you stand on your head, balance myself on your foot, and make you levitate objects while upside down..."

Roganda blinked and wondered when he'd developed the mean sense of humor. Then again, if the glint in his eyes was anything to go by, maybe that wasn't a jest... "No. No need for that."

* * *

Mara had just secured the ramp of her ship closed at the Talus space port when she heard a familiar, but not very welcome, voice behind her. "You're late."

Slowly, she turned to find Lando Calrissian standing there, a smirk on his face. Glaring at him, she wondered how he'd managed to get so close. "Only just. Have you been waiting long, Calrissian?"

"Not really." He studied her for a moment. "You seem... happy."

"None of your business."

He smirked but said nothing more as he led the way to a tapcafe. They had information to compare, to see if they were on the right track.

As it turned out... they kind of were.

* * *

Still on Talus, Mara got back to her ship and just wanted to crash for the night. Wanted to, but knew eating something was probably a good thing. So here she was, sitting in the ship's galley, eating a meal that was more than just a ration bar. It felt good. Filling.

Calrissian had left the day before and she'd stayed to meet with the contact that was actually to form a trading alliance for Karrde based out of the Double Worlds, and not information gathering for Talon's project. So... this particular leg of the trip had served two purposes. She still wished she hadn't had to leave Coruscant so soon, but it couldn't have been helped.

The longer she stayed on Talus, however, the more uneasy she felt. Mara couldn't explain it, this feeling of unease flickering at her from the Force, but she didn't like it.

Finishing her meal, Mara went to the ship's cockpit to arrange for planetary egress. She'd done what was needed here, and that meant she could leave at any time.

Once off of Talus, almost on instinct and not really thinking about it, Mara laid in a course for Dagobah.

* * *

The meeting had been going on for twenty minutes when he felt something from the bond and let himself be distracted. It was more droning about the political situation and the Imperials... it could wait. This couldn't. Focusing his attention on the bond, he opened himself up to her. _Mara?_

_How did you live here?!_

Now that was a confusing question. _Where?_

_Dagobah. Something Karrde said about you finding that beacon call here... I got curious._ There was frustration under her voice. _How did you train here? It's one big... swamp!_

He chuckled internally, careful not to draw attention to himself because he knew the situation with the Imperials wasn't funny. But her reaction was. _It helped to be stuck with no way off the planet, Mara. And how did you know I trained there?_

_It was in what you showed me, about Endor. You came here after Tatooine. Right?_

_Right._ And now he couldn't help but think of that visit... or the one after when he found the beacon call device. The realization came so suddenly that he nearly stood up. _Mara? Where on Dagobah are you? Show me._

The image he got back of the familiar swamp where Yoda's house had been didn't settle his nerves any. _Why?_

On Dagobah, Mara blinked in confusion when a chain of events unfolded in her mind's eye of what would have happened had she been on Jabba's Sail Barge, dooming the man whom she now loved. _What was that?_

_I saw that in the cave where I found the beacon call device. A dark Jedi died there..._ he trailed off, letting her connect the dots. _So be careful, whatever you do. And don't sink your ship into a pond, either._

She slowly turned, scanning the edges of the clearing, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary for a swamp. _That's good advice._

_I try._

_How's the meeting?_ At his mental guffaw of laughter, she smiled. _Never mind. Love you._

_Coming back to Coruscant soon?_

_I've got a few stops to make that don't involve your swampy planet of a training facility, and then we'll see. And I should probably stop distracting you._

A third voice intruded suddenly: _Or, at the very least, you could shield yourselves from prying mental ears. You were right, Luke. This meditation thing is doing wonders for my concentration. Your voices were just an annoying buzz in my head a week ago, now I understand 'em. And... huh. Was General Madine's hair always cut like that, or did he grow it out a little? Hmmmm..._

Half a galaxy apart, a man and a woman had the presence of mind to blush. _Kick Roganda's behind in training, Farmboy._

He turned to find Roganda watching General Madine talk in fascination. _Will do, Mara. Will do._

_And take holos for me!_

Luke's low resulting chuckle caused Han, whom he was sitting right next to, to turn and look at him funny. "Tell you later."

"That wasn't about the attacks made by warlords, then, was it?"

"No."

* * *

Roganda met his steady gaze after the meeting broke up with a smile. "So... Dagobah?"

Luke glanced at Han, who was watching them with curiosity, then frowned at her. "General Madine's hairstyle?"

"You mean to tell me that you've not ever wondered about it?"

"Roganda..."

"Yes?"

"How are you at handstands?" At her wince, he turned to Han with a smirk. "I'll need a holocamera. Promised Mara I'd take some holos."

"Of what?" Han wondered. "And what are you two talking about?"

Luke motioned to Roganda. "She pointed out that I need to work on mental shielding. During the meeting."

Han glanced at Roganda, who was looking elsewhere. "That's new, isn't it?"

"Old, really," Roganda admitted. "I knew how before. You know... before."

Han nodded slowly, looked at Luke to find him frowning in thought. Obviously, he hadn't connected the two things in his mind, yet. "And?"

"And because I never wanted anything to do with the Force again, I let myself forget how."

"Ah. Still want that holocamera, Luke?"

"Yes. Today is a milestone... and Mara seemed to think so, too." He paused, thinking for a moment. "Though it seems to me that you've been engaging in mental contact under stress since Wayland. This wasn't in any way one of those, and you said a week ago that our voices were a buzzing in your head. So... yes. Progress."

Roganda sighed. "Do we have to celebrate milestones with Force meditation handstands?"

Han blinked at that piece of information and turned his head to frown at Luke. "What?"

"This one, we do," Luke told her serenely. Then he sobered. "And actually, considering what happened when Yoda made me do it, it's perfect." Now they were both staring at him. "No one ever asked why or how I found out you were on Bespin in trouble, Han."

"Of course we didn't ask," Roganda told him before Han could say anything. "A lot was going on."

Later, when Darvis arrived at the workout room that Luke had set aside for training of this purpose, he was at a loss to understand exactly why Roganda was doing a well-balanced handstand and making things float seemingly of their own accord under Luke's instruction while Solo took holos of the whole thing. He was even more confused when Luke turned to him and told him to join in and do a handstand of his own. As Darvis knew the argument of 'I'm not your apprentice, but rather hers' would not be well received... he did. Learning in any form was a good thing, right? Right.

* * *

Coming out of hyperspace on the outer edge of the Baphashi system, Mara noticed the communications indicator light that connected the ship to the holonet begin to blink. Curiously, she pressed a button to see what the message was.

There was a short note: _"You wanted us to take holos, Mara. Missing you. -Luke"_

Frowning, she scrolled opened the file it was attached to. Several minutes later, she was perplexed. Handstands?

* * *

There was chaos outside this small room he'd been cloistered in for weeks on end. He could feel it, as sure as he knew the nausea and the disorientation had become less than it was when first he had been captured by none other than his former love.

Concentrating, he found five people in the immediate vicinity and also found out that there were no guards on his door. Messy of them. Very, very messy.

Slowly, surely, he disconnected the I.V. from his arm and removed the monitor leads from his person. Then he sat up the rest of the way and let himself adjust to sitting upright. He was tired, but chalked that up to the half-life of the drugs and far too much inactivity for his own liking.

Standing up and making his way to the door, he tried to open it... and discovered that perhaps it wasn't so messy of them after all. From the inside, there was no way out unless one used the Force to yank the door open.

For a moment, as he was staring at the door, he thought he heard a kind of distant buzzing that seemed eerily familiar but couldn't place. Shrugging it off, he took a deep concentrating breath and pushed at the door with as much Force as he could muster. It slid open to reveal a male medic with a tray in hand, who had the presence of mind to stare at him openmouthed.

"What are you doing up?"

He wasted no time in getting the person on a stranglehold and getting out into the hall. The tray clattered to the floor as he held the person to the wall with more strength than he actually felt. "Those drugs you were dosing me with... where are they?"

"Locked... up..." The medic struggled to say.

"On this floor?"

"Yes!"

"Where, then?"

"Nurse's... station! Closet!"

He smiled. "Remember nothing of tonight." The medic's eyes went blank and he was dropped summarily to the floor in a heap. The former patient reached down and took the identification card, noted the name of the medic, and glanced down at the man again. "Thank you, Medic Vectrol." Then he set off down the hall to find both that storage cabinet and a change of clothes because the hospital gown he'd found himself in just wasn't going to work in the long term.

* * *

Having gotten her last patient safely on the transport, Tamblyn decided to do one last sweep to see if they'd missed anybody. On the second floor she checked, she found her husband in a heap on the floor, unconscious. Blinking and taking a step back to get her bearings... to discover the door to a secured patient room was still open. Frowning, she bent down to check Cam for injuries, noted the beginnings of bruising on and about his neck, and had to hold him still when he came to with a surprising suddenness. "Woah! It's just me!"

He stared at her. "Tamblyn?"

"Yes?"

"Isn't this supposed to be our night off?"

She stared at him. "No... that was yesterday. How do you feel?"

"Sore." His gaze fell to the open door, and he frowned. "Was that open when you got here?"

"Yes. Yes it was."

"And is the patient still in there?"

She turned and craned her neck to see... "No." He touched her arm urgently and she looked at him again. "What?"

"Tray of something," he said as he nudged it with his foot, and Tamblyn glanced down to find a tray and what must have been it's contents scattered on the floor a foot away in front of the door. Swabs for sterilizing skin, an infuser... "What's going on that'd I would bring those to use on this patient who was supposed to be sedated already?"

"An evacuation."

"Oh."

"And you seem to be missing over twenty hours."

"I gathered that, yes." Cam shook his head slowly, then let her help him to stand. "Remind me to get Raven a box of her favorite candies when there's time, all right?"

"Why?"

"Now I know how she felt when she woke up from that experiment to find that six months had gone by in a haze. It's... very disconcerting."

Tamblyn motioned to the door as he unsteadily bent down to pick up the tray and the things that had been on it, then stood up again. "What about the patient that was in there?"

Cam took a deep breath. "I'm not going to go after that guy if he's loose. Not without a team of security people accompanied by a Jedi, that is. And you said we're evacuating, so... no time?"

Tamblyn frowned at him. "Security team accompanied by a Jedi? Cam, really." The look he gave her could have made duracrete melt. "What? It really is that bad?"

Cam sighed, winced, and pulled out a comlink device that he seemed surprised was on his belt. He stared at it for a long moment before punching in a code, waited for other person to answer. Tamblyn listened as he relayed their discovery and cut the other person off at the chase when they started to ask questions. Finally he ended the comm and turned to her. "Let's go."

"Was there anyone else on this floor?"

He glanced down the corridor, frowning in thought. "No. The rest on this floor were transferred to cells in another building to await questioning three weeks ago when their medical status was cleared as healthy."

"Then why was your security risk of a patient still here?"

"We had orders to keep him sedated and loopy."

She looked at Cam funny for a long, long moment. She wanted to ask him more, but from the expression on his face, knew without a doubt that he was serious. Instead of probing for more information, Tamblyn helped her husband to the waiting transport.

* * *

Just outside the palace hangar bay, Luke stopped when he felt a presence nearby. Felt it, and then it seemed to vanish as if it didn't exist. He wanted to reach out and ask Mara something, but decided to hold off because he knew, wherever she was, she was sleeping. She'd been doing that a lot for the past couple of weeks, taking naps during down time. Besides, it was better to not have her groggy and irritated when he tried to ask anything...

A sudden, sharp pricking sensation dragged him back to the present and he had just enough time to see a man with wild eyes in the shadows of the corridor before everything went black.

* * *

Mara had awoken that morning on Junkfort Station with nausea so powerful she'd had no choice but to rush for the ship-board 'fresher. Now, more than eight hours of looking over cargo containers and shipping manifests later, she returned to her ship to find something amiss. That something was Dark Star, curled up on the small bed of blankets Mara had put down in the cat's favorite corner, with small little black things attached to her side. No, not her side... her belly.

Blinking in astonishment, Mara sank to her knees and watched for long minutes as Dark Star let what she now realized were six little kittens nurse. Off to the side, she noticed another one, unmoving and covered in a slimy mess. So... there had been seven, not six.

Standing, Mara went to find a baggie and some gloves to clean up with. She found what she was looking for and returned to deal with the stillborn kitten while Dark Star watched her half-alertly from the comfort of the blanket bed.

Then Mara stood again, went to put the baggie and it's contents somewhere for safekeeping to deal with later, and paused as she stood in the hatchway of the small cabin she'd been sharing with her companion. It was perplexing to return to find this situation with no warning. She had noticed the cat had put on a few pounds, yes, but this? And how long was the gestation period for a Spukamas, anyway?

Muttering under her breath, Mara went to find the informative datapad Aves had given her, thumbed through it, and frowned at what she read. "Sixty to seventy-five days?" She sat on her bunk and looked over at Dark Star again, then continued to read the datapad. The symptom of territorial grumpiness stood out at her and caused Mara to chuckle. The part about pregnancy comparisons and nausea and fatigue, however, caused her to blink rapidly and drop the datapad.

Nausea and fatigue? Cats weren't known to get outwardly nauseous and usually weren't as fatigued as humans could be?

Her gaze slid to Dark Star and the kittens, and Mara slowly started to shake her head in denial. That couldn't be why she was tired and had wanted to throw up every morning for weeks. Right? There had to be another explanation. Right?!

Slowly, cautiously, Mara turned her Force senses inward, questioning and wondering if what she now suspected was the case. Almost immediately, she discovered that it was. In loud, blinking, very annoying holographic letters.

Mara sat there on the bunk for a long while, stunned and watching Dark Star. Later, when she tried reaching out for Luke over the bond, it was like hitting a wall of sound and left her wondering what was going on.


	27. Chapter 27

Outside the palace hangar bay where the Millenium Falcon was being prepped and ready to leave, Roganda stumbled to a halt when she spotted something on the floor. Frowning, she picked up the familiar lightsaber hilt and looked around the corridor for any sign of it's owner. Seeing nothing of him, she proceeded to the hangar bay, noted that his X-Wing was still parked in the hangar, and boarded the Falcon. She rushed to the cockpit and tapped Han on the shoulder as he was entering a course into the navicomp. "There's a problem."

Han finished what he was doing, then turned to her and saw what she was holding. "Where'd you kind it?"

"Out in the corridor. And his X-Wing is still here with Artoo waiting for him."

Han glanced out into the hangar bay at the ship in question. "Can you fly one of those?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Pull the security footage for the hangar bay and surrounding corridors. We'll figure it out when we get to the Cyax system."

Her comm device trilled at her suddenly and Roganda nearly dropped the hilt answering it to find Darvis on the other end, telling her in rushed tones something very bad. He clicked off and she was left to stare at Han in shock as it began to make sense.

"Ganda?"

"Get going." Without another word, she put the hilt in his hand and left the ship to do exactly what he'd told her to do: pull the security disks.

It made for a very confused astromech when, thirty harried minutes later, Roganda had donned a flight suit and climbed into the cockpit of Luke's waiting X-Wing. She dismissed the obvious questions and told Artoo to take off. Wherever Luke was, they weren't going to find him on Coruscant.

She had hours to think in hyperspace ahead of her.

* * *

Sitting in the cockpit of a ship he'd managed to commandeer that was bigger than a one-person fighter, Sarcev Quest smirked. In the small bunk area, he could sense that his captive had woken up to realize he was somewhere different.

He'd meant to merely get off the planet, but opportunity had presented itself in the form of the first Force sensitive person he came across after getting out of that hospital... it was too good to pass up. And also somewhat ironic that the first person he came across was related to his original objective. Close enough to not matter that it wasn't completely right.

He set a course for the deep core and went into hyperspace at the first nearly-safe opportunity.

* * *

On Pinnacle base at a computer station, Han stood behind Roganda as she poured over the security footage she'd been able to pull in what little time there'd been. He wanted to say something, to ask her how she was, but decided against it because that would get them nowhere. Finally, she paused the image on a man he didn't recognize walking down a corridor that he did know to be the north entrance to the hangar bay. "That him?"

"It is. And those are hospital scrubs under that coat, which fits with what he would have been able to find in the way of clothing." She shrugged in the silence and let the footage play at normal speed for long minutes. They both grimaced when it got to the part where Quest surprised Luke from behind, and Roganda stopped the play-back again to look at the timestamp. "I was in that corridor ten to fifteen minutes later."

"Did he look distracted to you?"

"Luke?"

"Yes."

Roganda turned away from the display to look at him. "Probably was. That, or he felt something off and stopped a moment too long to try to get a fix on it. Question is... who is going to tell Jade?"

Han blinked down at her, suddenly realizing that he hadn't even thought about Mara in all of this. "I... don't even know where she is. She said she was going to Talus, but that was weeks ago."

Roganda frowned in thought. "And she was on Dagobah a week ago. Or was that two weeks ago? Luke made you take holos of practice."

"Dagobah?"

"She was curious about something. Don't ask me to explain it any more than that."

Han nodded slowly. It made sense, really, that she'd go there if it was on the way to somewhere else. Somewhat, anyway. He looked at the frozen image of his brother-in-law unconscious at Quest's feet and felt his temper flare.

Roganda put a cautious hand on his arm and forced his gaze away from the screen. "Getting mad will do nothing to solve this. You know that."

"Stay out of my head."

"I'm not in your head, Han. You're radiating. A lot."

"You're not angry?"

She sighed, turned and took the datadisk out, and turned back to him. "Of course I'm upset. I made a mistake in not killing the idiot when I had the chance."

Han stared at her, not having expected that kind of vehemence from her. "What?"

"It would have been easy to punch or kick just a smidgen too hard in just the right place. And before you say it, Han, yes. I know. The fact that I didn't means something. Not that that's very comforting right now." She stood up and handed the datadisks to him. "I'm going to go find my husband. He should be here about now."

Han watched her go, silently marveling at how much she'd changed from that angry and grieving woman he'd taken to Hoth so long ago. Every now and then, like now, she surprised him. It probably wouldn't have helped to point out that she'd had maybe twenty seconds and no clue as to the identity of the attackers weeks ago, in the situation that had led to Quest's capture.

* * *

Luke was starting to wonder just where whatever ship he was on was going when the door opened to reveal a man he didn't recognize. The man was older, with scraggly dark hair and an unremarkable countenance. Other than being very pale, having a wild gleam in his eyes, and wearing a set of dark blue scrubs that seemed very out of place, Luke would have mistaken him for just another person. Or a medic... maybe. But the way the man moved was tugging at his memory, almost as if he should have known on sight who this was. "Who are you?"

The man allowed the door to close and simply stared back at him, as if he hadn't expected questions at all and was now unsure of how to act.

"For that matter, where are we?"

The man blinked again, then shrugged. "My name doesn't matter. And this is a ship, currently in hyperspace. And though I wasn't really expecting you to be awake like this, I'm glad you are. Makes questions easier, Jedi Skywalker."

Luke frowned at the formalness of the speech patterns. Maybe it was the grogginess and the nausea catching up to him, but... this man almost sounded like a male version of Roganda when she'd first arrived on Hoth with Han. Almost. "Questions?"

"Yes. Questions." Here, the man pulled out an infuser and Luke suddenly felt very apprehensive. Also pinned down where he sat on the bunk and unable to move. "You see... I've got this vague memory of answering nothing but question after question for weeks, only I don't remember what they asked me. Now I want some answers."

"What makes you think I have the answers?" Even groggy and nauseated and pinned down in a Force hold, Luke allowed his curiosity to get the better of him.

The man's smile was chilling. "Either you have the answers, or you don't. We'll just have to see when it is." He held up the infuser and contemplated it. "This, as I understand it, is a drug that induces a state of conscious sedation combined with a truth serum. Has a nasty kick to it, too. But that can't be helped, really, as I don't trust you to tell me what I want to know without it."

Luke frowned up at him. "What do you want to know?"

"What happened to my son... and my partner."

Luke continued to frown. "Who?" Could this get any more confusing?

The man's smile turned from chilling to downright grim as he pressed the infuser to Luke's arm and the medication released with a burning hiss. "I'm the one asking you."

As they room began to spin even more, Luke had little time to wonder why the man was avoiding giving him any answers. Over the course of the next hour or so, as Luke told him all he knew about Roganda's arrival on Hoth into the Alliance, Luke would finally work out who this person was: Sarcev Quest.

This knowledge would do little to ease his already drug-addled mind.

* * *

On Pinnacle Base, Wes had just gotten out of his X-Wing when Roganda found him and kissed him long and hard. When she pulled away, he was gasping for air. "Hi?"

"I love you. You know that, right?"

Words failed him for a moment as he stared at her, taking in the worry lines and the fact that she was wearing a flight suit. "Yes. I know that. What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

"You're wearing a flight suit, and you usually never kiss me in a hangar bay while mechanics are around."

She paused for a long moment and glanced down at what she was wearing. "Oh. Forgot."

"And you still haven't answered my question. What's wrong?" He waited patiently why she picked a piece of invisible lint off of the very out of place flight suit. "Roganda?"

She sighed. "All right. Quest escaped during the evacuation. As for the rest of it... not here in the open."

"Bad?"

"Very."

Wes nodded. "Then shall we go change, hmm?"

"You mean you don't want me to stay dressed like this?"

He chuckled. "Orange is not your color. And tell me later, all right?"

"Deal."

As they went their separate ways, Wes was left to wonder what was so bad that she wouldn't tell him in the open that was worse than someone escaping.

* * *

Han spotted Janson standing in a corridor meant for pilot's quarters, casually leaning against a wall next to a closed door. He frowned, wondering why the man was wincing intermittently. As he drew closer, Han heard what sounded like muffled bangs. "What is going on in there?"

Janson sighed. "Tried to get her to explain what she couldn't tell me in the hangar bay, and..." He motioned to the door. "That's been going on for twenty solid minutes."

Han blinked in surprise and reached for the door keypad, but stopped when Janson shook his head. "I was just..."

"Better that she have a conference with Lt. Kettch, than one of us get in the way and regret it. What happened, anyway?"

Han wondered just how hard she had to throw the stuffed Ewok for it to make that loud of a bang. "Long story."

"Starting or ending with why she was wearing a flight suit?" Janson asked tersely. "I thought she was leaving the planet with you."

"Ending. There was a very sudden change of plans."

Janson winced again as another muffled bang sounded and took a moment to study the expression on Han's face. He glanced at the door, then looked at Han again. And then realization dawned in his eyes. "Wait. Whose fighter did she fly?"

"Luke's."

"And where is he?"

Han glared at him. "If I knew that, I'd go and get him."

"Ah. That explains why she'd be upset. Partly, anyway." They lapsed into silence for a minute or so, listening to the continued bangs, before Janson spoke again. "Does Leia know?"

Han hesitated, then shook his head. "Not yet. Still working on the how and why of it."

"Oh."

Suddenly the bangs stopped and the door opened to reveal Roganda, who saw them both and winced. "What?"

"Feel better?" Janson asked.

She stared at him. "As I promised to be honest, no. Not really."

"Did you apologize to the Lieutenant?"

"Wes..."

"Even inanimate objects have feelings."

"Are you trying to make me laugh?"

"Perhaps."

"Then yes. Lieutenant Kettch got an apology."

"Good." He motioned to Han, who was watching them both with raised eyebrows. "Solo here clued me in on our missing person."

Roganda glanced at Han. "Wonderful."

Janson blinked as she turned on her heel and started to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to a medic!" Roganda told him, her pace not slowing at all.

Janson turned, eyes wide, to look directly at Han. "What am I missing?"

"That's for her to tell you," Han told him smoothly. "I'm not getting involved in that one."

* * *

Cam looked up from doing an inventory of everything they had in the way of medical supplies on the base to find Roganda staring at him as if he'd done something wrong. "What?"

"I should be asking you that question." She came closer, tilted his head to see his neck better, and her frown deepened. "Cam?" Those were deep bruises. Too deep.

He swatted her hands away automatically, then blinked rapidly. "Do you mind?"

"What happened?"

Cam stared back at her. "What do you mean what happened?"

"For you to get those bruises."

"Oh, that. Your guess is as good as mine."

She continued to stare at him in fascination. "You don't know how you got those?"

"No. All I know is that Tamblyn found me passed out on the floor in the middle of an evacuation and a patient was suddenly missing, only I don't remember the evac order or why I would have been sedating someone for transport." He paused, taking in the fact that her expression hadn't changed. "Why?"

It was falling into place, a little at a time. She sighed and stepped away from him. "Because there's something you need to see that relates to, I think, your bruises."

"There is?"

"Oh yes."

"Oh, good. Now I don't have to find either you or Skywalker to ask stupid questions about Force-caused amnesia," Tamblyn said as she arrived with a box and set it down. She paused to look at Roganda to find her staring with wide eyes. "What?"

"Force-caused... what?"

Tamblyn motioned to Cam. "He somehow lost twenty hours when that patient escaped. Given who the patient was, that was what I thought of." She blinked in surprise when Roganda slowly sank into a chair and started to laugh inexplicably. "Roganda?"

Roganda held up a hand, silencing them both before they spoke again and let herself laugh for a moment or two longer. "It's not... funny! It's not!"

"Then why are you laughing?" Cam wondered.

"It's... not... funny!" She giggled some more, then wiped her eyes and took several deep breaths and stared at her hands. "This is so bad, I don't even know where to start." She chuckled again, then seemed really embarrassed. "And you can't ask Luke about the amnesia thing, Tamblyn. He's missing." When neither medic said anything in response, she looked at them. "Happened during the evacuation."

"And you wanted to show me something?" Cam asked slowly, the cogs turning in his mind, hoping that the answer he was working his way to wasn't the right one.

Roganda nodded. "But first I need an answer from you. How could your patient escape if he was sedated the way he was, for as long as he was?"

"That's easy," Tamblyn told her. "Pharmacology 101."

"Which means what, exactly?"

"That a person's system can get used to the medication and it loses it's effectiveness. Like with certain kinds of poisons."

"Or troughing," Cam put in after a moment of thought. "Still drugged, but at a low point in the medication cycle before the next dose. Both are possible."

Tamblyn frowned at him. "Can that happen with sedatives, hypnotics, or psychoactives?"

"The adjusting or the troughing?"

"Cam..."

"Oh. Real answer?"

"Yes."

He thought about it for a long moment. "I... think so. Definitely with the sedatives, it can."

Roganda watched as he thought about it some more, something starting to stir in her thoughts... "What about if the person in question was trained in the use of herbs and whatnot?"

Cam blinked at that notion. "What?"

"Just a thought. He once said he'd landed in something called the Agricorps, not that it made any sense at the time. I thought he meant some kind of weird agriculture program that went from planet to planet studying assorted farming practices." She paused when they both stared at her. "What?"

Tamblyn chuckled. "You do realize the old Jedi Order had something called the Agricorps, right?"

"They did?" She thought back to everything she knew about Quest, suddenly realizing that she didn't know him nearly as well as she thought she did. "Oh. Kriff. So... we're possibly talking about someone who could have developed the ability to adjust to medications if they were used repeatedly, who was an Imperial undercover agent with training in things I'd rather not think about, and whom was working for Grand Admiral Thrawn..."

Cam cut her off, "I don't think he was working for Thrawn, actually. I sat in on one or two of those interrogation sessions, and he kept mumbling about being late returning to a place with blue sunlight that glowed from orbit as if it meant something to him, but Thrawn's name just drew a blank stare. Tried looking that description up later, but it was too vague to pinpoint anything."

"Place with blue sunlight?" Roganda wondered. "You're right. That really doesn't make any sense. You wouldn't happen to have a copy of those reports, would you?"

"No. And what does this have to do with Skywalker being missing?"

Roganda wordlessly fished the datadisk out of her pocket and moved to a nearby computer terminal to insert it. She keyed up the right time sequence and then stood back to let them watch. Cam's eyes widened and then he looked away. She stopped the playback and simply looked at him. "Problem?"

"How does a man with the beginnings of dementia who had been sedated like that pull off a surprise kidnapping of a Jedi Knight?" Cam wondered when he finally found his voice again.

"Dementia doesn't equal stupidity, Cam," Tamblyn told him wryly. She frowned. "Better question is, if he wasn't working for Thrawn, then who is he working for?"

Roganda glanced at the paused image of Quest thoughtfully. "Now that... that is the million credit question. One I'd love to know the answer to."

* * *

On Saccoria, Ailee was sitting on her brother's couch with a cup of caf in her hand and studying the still-mysterious painting her sister-in-law had done years before. It was two circles, one smaller and inside the other with points and lines scattered throughout. They'd never been able to figure out what it looked like, nor did her sister-in-law have an explanation and had said it had just 'come to her' upon waking.

Ailee snorted internally and took a sip of her caf. Some things... probably didn't need to be explained or make any sense.

"The longer you stare at it, the less sense it makes," her brother told her as he sat down on the couch.

"I know that."

"Staying long?"

She turned to look at him and spotted concern in his eyes. "Just long enough. Why?"

"We don't see enough of you in person."

Ailee chuckled and took another sip. "Passed the boards again."

"Oh?"

"And gave up weird for a week after my husband and his sabbacc partner took out some kidnappers on their own." She glanced at the painting again, fully knowing that such a claim was ridiculous.

"Was that before or after you passed your tests?"

"Before. Was annoyed."

He pulled her into a hug. "Then you're forgiven for doing something so ludicrous, dearest sister."

She pushed him away. "Drev!"

"What?"

"It wasn't ludicrous!"

"So you say..."

"All right, you two," her sister-in-law said as she came into the room and handed Ailee a thermos. "Enough. And this is for you, since you said at one point that Alliance-issue base caf isn't fit for consumption on a good day."

"I was being sarcastic," Ailee told her, but gratefully accepted the thermos.

"I'll take that back, then."

"Oh no you won't! It's home-brewed caf! From home! Home, I say! There's nothing better!"

Her brother squinted at her. "Should we be sending you care packages?"

"Could you?"

Her sister-in-law rolled her eyes and sat down in an empty chair. "Somehow, I don't think the Alliance would appreciate a base being discovered because you needed a care package involving caf."

"No, but the thought of someone trying to find the base to deliver it is somewhat entertaining. They're secret and very hidden for a reason, you know."

Darvis simply stood in the doorway that led to the kitchen and watched, laughing silently as Ailee continued to verbally spar with both of them. It was refreshing to be here, even if they had to leave directly.

* * *

On Yavin IV, Mara sat on the steps of the grand audience chamber in the former Rebel Base and wondered why she'd felt compelled to come to this place when she'd realized how close it was to Junkfort Station. It wasn't as if there was anything of importance here, years after the base had been abandoned.

Sitting there, she could almost see people lined up together as she presumed they would have been years ago when the first Death Star was destroyed. Almost.

Closing her eyes, she reached for him across the bond and again felt like she was hitting a wall. The more she tried to bang against it, however, the more certain she was that, whatever the wall was, it wasn't cutting her off completely. She could still feel him, knew he was out there somewhere, but couldn't get anything more specific than that.

What could do that? She didn't know, and as she opened her eyes again to stare at the rear wall of the chamber, frustration began to cloud her thoughts. She saw, or thought she saw, something move out of the corner of her eye, but when Mara turned to look, nothing was there. Had that been just a flicker of light, or a person, or a passing shadow of something flying from outside? She didn't know that, either.

Shrugging it off, Mara stood up and walked out of the grand audience chamber and made her way back to her waiting ship. She needed answers and she wasn't going to find them on an abandoned rebel base.

* * *

Karrde looked at her from the monitor with raised eyebrows. "You... didn't know Coruscant was evacuated two days ago?"

Mara sighed. "No. I wasn't keeping track of the holonet news feeds out here. Do you know where they are?"

He nodded. "Hutt space, a system called Cyax, on a moon called Da Soocha V."

"Cyax?"

"Yes. Why?"

Mara paused, deciding very carefully what to say and how to say it. "Because something is wrong, Talon. Very wrong. And the sooner I get answers, the better I'll feel."

Karrde nodded again, studying her as he did so. "Did you find anything out, on that mission I sent on?"

"Not a lot. I'll transit everything I've got to you when I find a secure system to do it from."

There was a very long pause before he spoke again. "Mara?"

"Yes?"

"Keep me informed."

Her smile was tight as she nodded. "I'll do that." The comm ended and she was left to stare at the screen for a moment in silence. Hutt space? The New Republic had a base in Hutt space? She wondered if the Hutt's themselves knew that.

* * *

When Luke came to again, it was to the man he was sure was Sarcev Quest watching him from the door of the small compartment he was in. "Hi?" And then something started to nag at him... almost as if the atmosphere wasn't quite right. He tried to focus, but everything felt really fuzzy.

"Don't bother," Quest told him blithely. "Drugs make it hard."

"Voice of experience?"

"Of course." Quest smirked at him and Luke felt like shrinking away from him. How was it possible to smile and be creepy at the same time? "And we'll be landing shortly."

"Where?"

His question received no answer as Quest chuckled and left him alone with his very fuzzy, confused thoughts.

~*~*~*~

The first words out of her mouth when she saw her future sister-in-law were not a greeting, but rather a visceral demand. "Where is he?!" At Leia's stunned expression, Mara blinked rapidly and took several deep breaths. "Sorry."

"You don't know?" Leia wondered, staring at her as if the very idea was unfathomable.

"No. I've gotten nothing solid in days, other than the occasional mental image from him." Mara paused for a moment, thinking back to what she'd seen... "And even that was suspect."

"That's not good," Leia muttered as she took Mara by the arm and led her away from the hangar deck. Or tried to. Mara wasn't budging. "What?"

"I'll be right back," she told her, and disappeared into her ship. A minute later, she came back out and closed the entry securely. "Now we can go."

Leia frowned at her. "What was that about?"

"Dark Star."

"Ah."

* * *

Roganda looked up from the information on Quest's interrogation she'd been perusing, sensing someone she'd been hoping not to see before they'd found their missing Jedi Knight. Ten seconds later, Leia entered with Mara on her heels and Roganda fought to keep her expression neutral while Mara questioned her silently. "We don't know yet, Mara."

Mara blinked and cocked her head to one side in curiosity. "What do you mean you don't know? Don't know what?"

"Exactly that. No idea other than what we know already. Which isn't much and will definitely make you angry." She cringed when Mara's body language subtlely shifted from semi-relaxed to dangerous, then held up the datapad. "But I'm working on the how and why."

Mara stared at her for a long moment. "The how and why of what?"

"Why Luke got kidnapped, how Quest got out, and where he would have gone. Other than a really vague description of a planet with blue sunlight that glows... nothing, so far." Roganda frowned when Mara's jaw fell open from the shock. "Which is the part you didn't know. Leia, how could you bring her to me and not tell her?!"

Leia sighed. "I was still working on how to explain."

"He... got what? When?" Mara sputtered, and then put a hand on the wall to steady herself, and had to wave Leia off when she moved to put a hand on her other arm. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."

Roganda put the datapad down, her frown deepening as she took in how pale Mara seemed. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday."

"And slept?"

"Why do you care?"

She shared a look with Leia, who nodded slightly. "Been feeling nauseated?"

"A little." Mara glanced at them. "What?"

Roganda picked the datapad back up and shook her head knowingly. "Leia, take her to eat something and then go see a medic. The explanation can wait."

"But I feel fine," Mara told her. "And I want to talk about this now."

"You've had a head injury fairly recently, you're exhausted, food is important, and I'm not going to discuss this with someone about to faint." And with that, Roganda went back to reading the data.

Leia pulled her out of the room before Mara could protest again.

* * *

In the base commissary, Leia watched as Mara ate slowly, wondering at how off the woman had seemed since arriving. Had it been the lack of nourishment that caused the oddness? "Where were you?"

Mara glanced up at her, took a bite, chewed slowly, and swallowed. "When I realized something was wrong, or when I found out about the evacuation?"

"When you realized something was wrong," Leia told her.

"Junkfort Station. I'd... just found Dark Star and her kittens, tried reaching out to Luke to tell him." Mara shook her head, looked away. "Got nothing. I was just leaving the Yavin System when I commed Karrde and found out about the evacuation. That was two days later."

Leia frowned. Something told her that Mara wasn't telling her everything. "Kittens?" And what had she been doing on YavinIV?

"Surprised me, too." Mara looked at Leia, then looked away again. "That's part of why I'd like to solve this mess sooner rather than later. To talk to him."

"About... kittens?"

"Yes."

"Are they cute?"

Mara took another bite, nodded. "Very."

Leia let the silence resume as Mara finished what was left on the tray, then ushered her to medical because she agreed with Roganda that something wasn't quite right. Kittens? Mara wanted to tell Luke about kittens? Right... she'd believe that about as soon as every last person in the universe decided to become pacifists.


	28. Chapter 28

Luke sprang awake again, not having really been aware that he'd dozed off, to find Quest staring at him. Again. This was starting to become both irritating and tiresome. It really, really was. "You're not going to tell me where we are, are you?"

Quest simply shook his head and let Luke up with a wave of his hand.

Luke sat up slowly and stretched tired muscles, sore from not having moved around much in days. He stared at the deck plates, focusing not on those, but rather on the Force. It felt... odd. Different. Different, but familiar. And he could sense her, but reaching out to talk felt incredibly difficult. Lifting his head, he focused on Quest's face for a long moment, and the man stared back at him defiantly. "So..."

Quest rolled his eyes and moved to help Luke stand on shaky legs. "Come on. People to see, now."

"Who?" Just asking that simple question, Luke knew the man wouldn't answer. Not directly, anyway. Quest's answering silence did not disappoint.

* * *

Mara was procrastinating and eating the last of what was on the tray slowly under Leia's watchful gaze when it happened. A mental image of a man she didn't recognize appeared in her mind's eye, and she was so startled at the presence that was there one moment and gone the next that she dropped her fork with a noisy clatter.

"Mara?" Leia asked cautiously, carefully.

Mara blinked a few times, then met Leia's startled gaze. "That was weird. It's almost like he was sitting right here for just a moment, showing me a holo or something... but I don't know this person. Or maybe I did, once. I don't know."

Leia sighed and stood up. "Come on. Let's go get you checked out."

Mara studied her for a moment. "Why? Nothing is wrong."

"You nearly fainted."

"But I didn't..." As the silence stretched and Leia glared at her in a distinctly maternal manner, Mara sighed. "Fine. Medical, it is. If it make you feel better."

"It will."

* * *

A tendril of awareness caught Roganda's attention and she looked up for a moment from the report, wondering why anyone would want to get her attention that way. Questioning silently back, she smiled and returned her attention to the report. Finally, a voice of reason. Or... judging on how disgruntled he seemed, maybe not a voice of reason right now.

Thumbing through the report some more, she frowned at a place name. Why would anyone set up a secret Imperial stronghold on Abyss? That didn't make any sense. None at all. "That's very strange..."

"What is?" a tired, familiar male voice asked, causing her to look up and see Darvis standing in the doorway.

She watched as he moved to sit down without asking for an invitation and proceeded to rub his temples as if he had a headache. "Are you all right, Darvis?"

"Save me from my fully cafinated wife," he mumbled. "The whole way here on the transport, she had caf to drink. From home."

Roganda stared at him for a minute, unsure of what to say, and returned her attention to the datapad. "Oh. The strange thing might, or might not, be important."

"Will it at least give me an excuse to stay away from Medical until tomorrow?"

"She can't be that bad." The incredulous look he shot her was nothing short of murderous. "Ah. Yes. It possibly could. Go look up the Abyss system for me?"

"What?"

"I need something ruled out."

Darvis was stopped from asking what she needed ruled out when Ailee spoke up from the door. "There you are."

Roganda glanced between the two of them and returned her attention to the report. "How was Sacorria?" That's where they'd gone with the medical transports following the evacuation: Corellian sector hospitals.

Ailee chuckled. "Fine." She entered, put a hand on her husband's shoulder, glanced around, and froze.

* * *

Leia watched her as the medic left the room with vials of freshly drawn blood for various tests. She didn't want to voice what she suspected was the case, because it was so private. Mara's defensive story about kittens kept coming back to her, as if it was an important detail to be taken stock of and accounted for. And then it hit her: Mara had left Dark Star in Han's care six weeks before, and the next day it had been maddening to see her brother so happy he was nearly bouncing in his seat and not ask him anything about it.

She thought about the questions Roganda had asked just after the dizzy spell: nausea and fatigue. The dizziness, though... that was the kicker.

"You don't have to tell me yes or no," Leia found herself saying, effectively breaking the companionable silence between them. "But does this have anything to do with you leaving Dark Star with Han for the night six weeks ago?"

Mara barely glanced at her, nodding slowly. "It does. He proposed."

"And that's why you want to find him quickly."

"Yes."

And there it was, laid bare. This was about far more than it appeared to be. "We're going to find him, Mara."

"Of course we are."

The medic returned just then, a quizzical frown on his face as he looked at Leia. "Can you wait outside?"

"She's family," Mara told him. "Or will be. She can stay." She looked at Leia, smiled slightly, but the expression in her eyes stayed firm. Dangerous. "We're going to find him, all right. And you get to tell your husband about this."

Leia frowned. "What?"

"The first person I actually say the words to will be Luke, and no one else." She turned her attention to the medic. "Well? Say it."

"So... you know you're pregnant, then," the medic said slowly, blinking at her in surprise.

"Yes. And what about the other tests you ran?"

"You are healthy." He handed her a datapad. "This is for you, however."

"What is it?"

"Pregnancy literature. Going twenty or more hours without eating anything isn't something you should do again."

Mara nodded slowly. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

They were a turn away from the room which Roganda had comandeered when a scream normally associated with dark alleys sounded and a vaguely familiar woman came flying past them with an expression of pure terror on her face. She was followed not too long after that by Officer Melyan who appeared as confused as they both felt.

Mara watched him disappear after her, frowning. "That's odder than usual, isn't it?"

Leia nodded. "I wonder why she looked so terrified?" Shrugging it off, Leia started walking again and led the way again. Roganda was still staring at the door when they got there. "What was that about?"

"No idea," Roganda said slowly. "Darvis was in here looking for something to stay occupied with, and then Ailee came in looking for him. She wasn't even in here a minute when she shrieked for no reason, surprised us both, and fled." She shook her hand, looked at Mara, and pulled out a familiar lightsaber hilt. "Here."

Mara took it from her, turning it over and over in her hands. "And... where is he, if you have this?"

"That's why we know. And he's with Sarcev Quest... somewhere. Don't ask me to show you the security footage, as it'll just tick you off more than you are right now."

Mara looked up from the lightsaber hilt to stare at Roganda. "Quest? Wasn't he some kind of court functionary?" Unbidden, the image of that man she still didn't recognize came to mind again and it gave her pause. Had Luke been trying to tell her this same thing?

Roganda glanced at Leia as she shook her head firmly. "No, that was just a cover operation to seduce someone. He was also an Emperor's Hand, just like you and I. Cam thinks he has mild dementia, but that could have been the drugs affecting him."

Mara sat down slowly, only just now noticing the Ewok doll seated in one of the other chairs. "Oh. How come I wasn't made aware of other Hands?"

Roganda sighed and went back to trying to read the datapad again. "Please. We all worked for the same person. He told us what we needed to know to do what he needed us to do. I know about Quest because we partnered a few times on missions and it was necessity."

"More than that," Leia pointed out to her, which made Roganda scowl at the datapad. "What? It's true."

"Don't make me have to apologize to Wraith Squadron's mascot again, Leia. Once was enough."

Mara frowned at her, for she'd not expected to hear something like that. "What?"

"Kettch," Roganda said, motioning to the doll. "My husband the practical joker seemed to think I needed a reminder and imaginary help to read this report in one. Oh, and sometime while I've been reading this, Antilles and Han had a talk and Rogue squadron volunteered themselves to go and get Luke when I finally figure out where that might be." She stared at the datapad in her hand. "So far... I don't think he's on Abyss."

Mara sighed and gestured for the datapad. "Take a break. You sound like you need one."

"It's my fault, Mara. Don't want to take a break."

Mara glanced toward the door and saw Han standing there, watching in grim silence. "Somehow, I don't think you're going to get a choice in the matter."

Roganda looked up from the datapad to see what she meant, and sighed in defeat. "Fine." She surrendered the datapad to Mara and studied her for a moment, then looked at Leia. "Are congratulations in order?"

"It'll keep," Leia told her. "And they might be."

"Ah."

Mara watched the woman go, then looked at Leia. "Has she always been that difficult?"

"You should have seen her on Hoth," Leia told her after a moment or two of thought. "She was worse."

Mara stared at her for a moment before starting to read the report on the datapad. She noticed the place name Roganda had stopped at and wondered the same thing... there was an Imperial garrison on Abyss? That really didn't make any sense.

* * *

Somewhere, far away from the Cyax system, an Imperial Admiral smolders with hatred as she stares out the front viewport of her Star Destroyer. For as long as she'd been away from the service in any official capacity other than guard duty for scientists, locked behind a maelstrom, she'd believed her Empire to be alive. Strong. Unbreakable.

Now, here she stood, staring at a planet that had once housed a Rebel base, and wanting nothing more than to destroy it. She had the means, it would be easy. Effortless. Brutal. The attacks she'd made that had caused them to evacuate Imperial Center were nothing. Nothing at all.

Turning, she nodded savagely at her second-in-command, who paled noticeably but nonetheless obeyed.

With a flash of green fire, Dantooine was no more.


	29. Chapter 29

Hours ago...

It was early in the morning on Sacorria and a woman is just sitting down to have her morning cup of tea when a scream shatters the silence of her home. She blinks in confusion and rushes to find out what the source of the sound is, finally finding her son hyperventilating and crying on his bed. She sits down on the edge of the bed, pulls him close, and rocks him. "Shhh, Amos. It's okay. Everything's all right. Shhh. It was just a dream."

"It wasn't!" he sobs into her chest. "It wasn't! No dream! Not a dream, Momma!"

She is still there in her son's bedroom, rocking and comforting him when her husband arrives home from a late/early work shift. Standing in the doorway, he questions her with his eyes, and she shrugs. It is an anomaly, their normally happy son waking up only to be inconsolable, and wordlessly, he joins them on the bed.

What it is or isn't, is not important now. Only their son is.

"Mama? Daddy?" a sleepy voice calls from the doorway.

She turns her head and finds that their three-year-old daughter has joined them, and beckons her to come closer. "Come here, Abiah."

Abiah joins them, her father picking her up and placing her on his lap. "Happeneded?"

"Amos had a bad dream," she explains.

"It wasn't!" Amos insists again.

Abiah frowns and reaches for his hands. "Mama and Daddy and me will make this all better."

The woman glances at her husband again to find him smiling down at their little girl. Slowly, very slowly, they'll make this right... even if, right now, they had no idea why their son was insisting something bad had happened repeatedly.

* * *

An hour later, in another house a few blocks away, a woman checks a piece of very large equipment in her basement, smiling as she notes a readout. What it says is good. Very good.

"Rala? You down here?"

She turns to see her husband descending the stairs. "I'll be up in a minute, Whuki."

He glanced at the equipment. "How's it coming?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "With any luck, barring anyone else getting displaced, things should be getting back to near-normal soon." She sighed. "I hate this thing."

"You volunteered," he reminded her.

"Smart ass."

"Ah, but I'm [I]your[/I] smart ass." He nudged her arm gently. "Come on."

"I just..."

Whuki sighed. "I know, but we're not going to have that discussion again."

She glanced at the equipment again, then let him lead her up to the kitchen. "What's for breakfast?"

"It is a surprise."

"It's not something I'll hate, is it?"

His chuckle did little to answer her question.

* * *

Now...

* * *

At the gust of wind, Luke's head came up and he took immediate notice of his surroundings. It was a spaceport... a very out-of-use appearing spaceport. Without thinking about it, he broke Quest's grip on his shoulder and made a break for it, only to be stopped cold by a wall he didn't see and fall down onto his back, smacking his head rather hard on the duracrete.

"Doesn't work that way," Quest told him wryly, holding a hypodermic infuser so he could see it clearly. "You have two choices: conscious or unconscious. Which will it be?"

Luke blearily stared up at him, wondering why his vision was going dim...

"Or you could just pass out," Quest's smug voice said from the darkness. "That works, too..."

* * *

On Pinnacle Base, Mara felt a familiar pain radiate towards her, and she put the datapad down to stare at the wall. Then it blossomed into a headache, minor but still... wait. She knew this kind of pain... "Ow."

Leia frowned at her. "Mara?"

"It's nothing." Mara glanced at her, saw the frown, and shook her head. Then she winced and rubbed her temples. "It's not me. It's him. No words..." The rest of Mara's response was swallowed when a wave of screams and emotions and wrongness rolled over them from the Force.

* * *

It had taken him half an hour to get her to stop hiding in the closet, and Ailee still didn't want to talk about whatever it was that had made her scream and run away, claiming it was too embarrassing to talk about. So they simply sat together on the bed, Darvis waiting for her to say something more, and Ailee waiting for him to go away so she could deal without an audience.

When he grunted and nearly passed out in her arms, she did the first thing that came to mind: started taking his vitals.

"I'm fine," Darvis told her when she pulled out a penlight and shined it in his eyes. "You can stop!"

She glared at him. "All right. Tell me what that was."

"Something... very wrong."

"Oh?" She stared at him for a moment or two before nodding and putting the penlight away. "Oh. Right. Go."

"Go?"

"Go. I'll be fine."

Darvis frowned at her. "You will?"

"If you don't, I'll drag you to medical and let Cam do a complete physical." She left out the fact that Cam was off duty for a week pending a psychiatric assessment due to any mention of the Force making his left eye twitch.

"Right." He went.

* * *

Commander Kratas was still staring out at the debris that had previously been a planet of peaceful and neutral people after Admiral Daala had nodded in satisfaction and left the bridge of the Gorgon. It made no sense in his mind for her to destroy it with the battle station prototype without plausible or proper cause. None at all.

Slowly, he turned and looked around at the men and women under his command. All of them shared the same expressions, though they were doing their best not to show it, of varying degrees of shock and disgust.

Nodding to himself, Kratas turned to his navigational officer. "Set course for Ord Trasi."

The officer looked at him oddly before nodding and setting about doing exactly that. "Yes, sir."

Kratas glanced again out at the debris, and made up his mind as he lowered his voice. "And do not inform the Admiral."

"Sir?"

"Not now, Lieutenant."

The navigation officer nodded. "Course laid in, sir."

Kratas turned to his first officer. "As soon as we've cleared the system, jump to hyperspace. And tell the sensor chief to make as many sensor sweeps as possible before we're clear." He took another look out at the debris, eyes straying to the skeletal prototype floating off their bow. "You have the bridge."

His first officer nodded, and Kratas turned on his heel, leaving with as much decorum as he could muster. He had a Legal Affairs officer to speak to.

* * *

On Byss, as Quest watches his quarry sleep off the concussion he'd given himself by trying to get away, something unexplainable hits him and he is left blinking in the aftermath. Something isn't right, and now he's confused even more than he was before.

Things on Coruscant had made no sense, for everything had been different. Different. He'd gone to find help, but... nothing made any sense. Not his master's condition, not the failed kidnapping he'd gotten involved with, and not anything else. Even Roganda was not the same.

What had happened while he'd been here, on Byss, helping the now deceased Sate Pestage with their Master? Surely, so much couldn't have happened in so short a time... right?

His answers would be long in coming.

* * *

On Pinnacle base, the wave of destruction is felt in varying degrees by those sensitive to it, but none of them can immediately explain what it was. Mara, after the wave subsided, found herself clutching at the edge of the table, her knuckles white, and staring hard at the wall. She glanced at Leia, who stared back at her, face ashen white. The other woman looked as shaken as she felt.

"What was that?" Leia finally managed to ask, her voice strained.

Mara blinked and looked down at the datapad she'd dropped unintentionally that now lay on the table in front of her. Things had just gotten somewhat worse than a missing man. "Shavit."

"Was that..." Leia started, and stopped at Mara's raised hand.

"It was very definitely something," Mara told her, still staring at the datapad and really hoping what she suspected was wrong. "Shavit."

"Swearing won't help the situation, Mara."

"What if it makes me feel better?" She took a deep breath, let it out, took another. "I don't want to say what I think that was."

"Good," Roganda said as she appeared in the doorway, Han behind her with a very confused expression on his face. "Because if it's what I think it is, that's impossible."

Leia turned and frowned at her. "What?"

"I've been wondering the same thing since that fit she had in the cafeteria," Han spoke up, causing Mara to jump, startled because she hadn't looked up to see him. "What happened?"

"That's what I want to know," Mara muttered. She glared at Roganda, who stared unflinchingly back at her. "It's not possible for there to be another one of those things. Right?"

"Another one of what?" Darvis asked, having just arrived.

Roganda sighed. "There shouldn't be, no. That doesn't mean there isn't. Force only knows what happens away from prying eyes and ears. We both know that."

Mara glanced again at the datapad. "Good point."

"Would you two please stop speaking in code?" Leia asked, her tone stern and official.

Mara moved to push away from the table, but Leia stopped her. "What? We've got databases to search through, and I'm not going to say it unless it really is the case." She looked at Han. "But be prepared for bad. Very bad."

"How bad?"

The look she gave him made Han want to back up ten feet. "Oh. _That_ bad."

Now Leia pushed away from the table. "Come on, Roganda." She again stopped Mara from getting up, pointing to the datapad in explanation. "He's not going to find himself."

Mara nodded, and watched as the three of them left, leaving her alone with Darvis. As she picked up the datapad, she glanced at him. "What was with the screaming earlier?"

Darvis shrugged. "Don't know. Haven't got her to tell me yet... or come out of our room."

"And you left her alone?"

Darvis blinked at her directness, and pulled a comlink out that he suddenly seemed to remember he had. "Oh. Right. I comm to get permission to make."

And then Mara was left alone with the datapad and the stuffed Ewok.

* * *

Darvis didn't have to wait long for someone to answer on the other end. When someone finally did, they had a fork in their hand. "Did I catch you during dinner, Drev?"

Drev shook his head. "No. Lunch."

"Ah." Darvis studied the other man for a moment, wondering at the haunted expression in his normally cheerful eyes. "I was wondering if you could answer something for me."

"What?"

"What would make your sister scream, run away, and hide in her room for no apparent reason?"

Drev stared at him uncomprehendingly. "You called me from wherever you are to ask... that?"

"Yes."

"And did she?"

"She's camped out in our on-base quarters, refusing to leave or talk about it and claiming 'they' are out to get her. Whatever 'they' are."

"Stuffed animals," Drev told him stoically, eyes serious. "But why would the New Republic Military have those?"

Not having expected that answer, Darvis stared at him. "Stuffed animals?"

"Since she was six. There was a fire and she hasn't been able to be around them or look at them since. An aunt tried to give her a stuffed animal once, and Ailee didn't come out of her room, that we saw, for three solid weeks."

Darvis continued to stare at him. "And she decided to go into medicine?"

"There aren't usually stuffed animals around," Drev pointed out. "And you didn't answer my question."

"One of the squadrons has this stuffed Ewok doll, and... you can guess."

"Screamed bloody murder?"

"Yes."

Drev chuckled. "Give her a day or so, she'll be fine so long as it doesn't happen again. Oh, and she threatened to have someone shoot me the last time I teased her about it, so don't go trying to help by giving her a stuffed animal."

Darvis nodded. "Thanks. I'll let you get back to lunch now." The screen wiped to blank and he was left sitting there for a moment or two, processing what the man had said. Stuffed animals? Really? Shaking his head, he turned away from the terminal to see at least three techs at various stations, Roganda talking to a General and Organa-Solo, and Solo listening as she talked.

* * *

Mara was rubbing her temples when Darvis swept into the room and looked around. "Hi."

He nodded to her and frowned when he saw Lt. Kettch. "Huh. No wonder."

Mara blinked up at him. "What?"

"It's easily seen from this angle."

Mara followed his line of sight to the doll. "And?"

"And apparently my wife has a phobia that I did not previously know about."

She looked from the doll to Darvis and back again, at last understanding. "That was why she screamed?"

"According to her brother, it is."

Mara stared at Lt. Kettch for a long, long moment, not really understanding how it could be scary. And then she couldn't help herself as one chuckle turned into another... and another. "I know it's not funny, but..."

Darvis nodded sagely. "But sometimes, it's the weirdly mundane that makes things seem just a little better?"

"Yes. That." She paused. "Go."

"Huh?"

"She still holed up in your quarters?"

"Yes."

"Then that is where you should be."

* * *

She wasn't sure how it happened, but one moment she was reading the interrogation report again and starting to yawn, and the next she was standing in the middle of a group of people on a dance floor, objecting loudly and forthrightly to a union of some kind. Blinking, Mara turned to find Darth Vader dancing with a dark haired woman in impressive finery as if it were the most natural thing in the universe.

"A little late to stall the wedding, isn't it Mara?" a familiar voice asked and she turned again to find Talon Karrde dancing with a shadow.

Startled and confused, Mara could only stand there and stare at him. "Huh?"

He nodded to the other side of the room, and Mara looked to find Luke seated at the head table with an older brunette woman. "Them." They were deep in conversation from the looks of it, too.

"Daddy!" came a squeal of what sounded like delight and Mara turned again to find a young woman hugging Han feircely while Leia glared daggers at them. Then she threw up her hands and walked away.

Mara blinked again. "Did that girl just call him Daddy?"

Karrde chuckled. "Seems that way."

Mara frowned. "She's too old to be his daughter." Someone suddenly tapped Mara on the shoulder and she looked to find a woman with dark hair in a gray dress, and a little girl in a brown shipsuit at her side. "What?"

The woman smiled and nodded to the head table. "Go."

"Huh?"

Sighing, the woman pulled her off the dance floor and pushed her in the direction of the head table. "Ignore the senator getting eaten by the carnivorous plant and go talk to him. Now."

Mara blinked again before doing exactly that. If anything, she'd find out who the woman was that her fiance was deep in conversation with. Then she paused and turned to find that a senator was indeed getting eaten by a carnivorous plant. Was that Senator Borsk Fey'lya? "Well... that's different."

"Mara?" Luke's voice asked and she turned to find both him and the woman staring at her.

She glanced at the woman before directing her attention to Luke. "Hey there."

"Are you really here to stop the wedding?" the woman suddenly asked, frowning at her.

Luke beckoned Mara to join them. "This is Callista Masana. Callista, this is Mara Jade."

Callista sighed. "I know that."

Mara glared at the woman. "Can you... go elsewhere for a moment or twenty?"

Callista started to shake her head furiously, but stopped when she saw the expression on Luke's face. "I'll be back."

Luke waited until she was out of earshot before pulling Mara closer, and suddenly the scene around them changed to a desert. He took a deep breath. "Thought so."

"Luke...?" Mara asked tenatively.

"Concussion. Mine."

"Oh. That explains what I've been getting from you." She let the silence reign for long moments, relishing just being in his arms and watching the suns set in the distance. Finally, she had to break the silence. "Do you know where you are?"

"No. Has weird blue light, but I didn't get to see much more than part of a spaceport." He moved and looked down at her. "Odd."

"What is?"

"Did you bring anyone with you?"

Now she was smiling up at him. "Good guess, Farmboy. Tell you when you're with me, safe and sound." She kissed his forehead. "Sleep well, my love."

When Mara came out of whatever it was, someone was shining a penlight into her eyes while Leia looked on from the doorway. She caught the medic's hand with a start. "Don't need that."

The medic looked at her for a long moment before nodding and putting the item away. "You were catatonic for half an hour. Care to explain?"

Glaring at the medic, Mara turned her gaze to Leia. "He's okay. For now."

Leia blinked several times, processing that bit of information. "You talked to him?"

"And he doesn't know where he is, either, but it's definitely the same place from the interrogation report. Blue sunlight."

* * *

Cam turned to find Mara standing in the doorway, holding some kind of box in one hand. "Can I help you?"

Mara smiled slightly as she entered the room and carefully set the box on the exam bed. "Tamblyn mentioned you'd been having a hard time of it. Feel up to seeing a patient?"

He stared hard at her for a moment. "You?"

"No." So saying, she opened the end of the box that was facing away from him and produced a familiar black animal with golden eyes. "Dark Star."

A faint mewling sound reached his ears and he frowned at her. "I am not a veterinarian, Miss Jade. If this is your idea of a joke..."

"A patient is a still a patient, yes?"

He glanced at the Spukamas, who stared back at him from the depths of Mara's arms. "I guess."

"Then I request that Dark Star and her kittens be seen. By you."

Cam's frown deepened at the mention of kittens and he moved to look into what he know recognized as a pet carrier. Inside were six little black kittens. He stared for a long moment before looking at Mara again. "Cute little things."

"Yes..."

He paused a moment longer before reaching out to give Dark Star a head scratch. "I guess I could give them all a check-up, then. Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"Other than the kittens? No."

* * *

It had taken her more than a week to work up the courage to go back to that room again, even after her husband had assured her the threat was gone. As she approached the door and looked in, she found two women discussing the intricacies of where Imperial bases were known to be, and what looked like a map projected on the wall. At least... she thought it was a map. Weren't there supposed to be more lines?

Noticing her, Roganda broke off what she's been in the middle of saying. "Ailee?"

Ailee nodded to the projection. "Is that a map of hyperlane routes?"

Roganda frowned at her. "Yes. We're using it as a visual aide. Why?"

"Because it's missing a route that goes straight down from that dot where the others branch at in the second circle, and around to land at a point on the other side of the smallest circle."

The other woman, whose name she remembered as Mara, frowned in thought. "In the Deep Core?"

Ailee nodded and entered the room, going straight to the only computer terminal in the room. She entered a set of coordinates from memory, and a dot, just like she'd said, lit up, along with a route to get to it, leading from Coruscant. Turning, she looked at both of them. "Like that."

Mara stared hard at the map projection for a moment before turning sharply to look at Roganda. "Remember that location name we were both stumped on because we knew the Abyssians weren't likely to have the kind of garrison Quest would have fled to?"

"Yes," Roganda said after a moment or two of thought. "Survivors."

"What?"

She nodded to the map. "There was a mass resettlement that I found vague mentions of in the Palace database, from just after Alderaan." Roganda glanced at Ailee. "How do you know about what you just put on the map?"

Ailee shrugged. "My sister-in-law. She drew something years ago and we weren't able to figure out what it was." Here she motioned to the map. "Looked exactly like that, only she's never so much as looked at a hyperlane map before or since. Mass resettlement?"

Mara thought back to the time just after Alderaan had been destroyed... "Come to think of it, that does sound vaguely familiar."

Roganda suddenly felt like banging her head on the table over how obvious it was in retrospect. Of course he'd go somewhere familiar to him... that was in the Deep Core Security Zone! "I'm an idiot!"

"No," Ailee told her carefully. "You didn't have all the pieces. This is not the same as being an idiot. Trust me. I know."

Roganda frowned at her. "Oh?"

Ailee shook her head, smiling tightly. "This is not the time for that." She looked at Mara. "So... does it feel right to you?"

"It does," Mara told her after a moment of silent meditation. She stood up. "Thank you, Medic Melyan."

"You're welcome." Ailee paused, watching the red-haired woman stretch from sitting too long. "You're not going."

Mara's head whipped around. "What?"

"Not alone, that is." Ailee glanced at Roganda. "Right?"

"Right," Roganda agreed. "Besides... have you ever tried to sneak out of a Rebel Base when everyone knows what you've been doing for weeks, only coming out for meals and to sleep? It's harder than you'd think."

Mara's gaze slid to Roganda's hands, specifically to the scars on her knuckles and fingers. She could believe that...


	30. Chapter 30

Elsewhere...

* * *

She'd just set her case on the counter when she spotted the out-of-place relative seated at her kitchen table, writing. "Sue...?"

"Finished your thesis for you," Susan told her without preamble, and setting the pencil down. "Why didn't you tell me that you were trying to explain how aerodynamics in space affect the colors of the Aurora Borealis? That's something I do know a little about, Ranko."

Ranko blinked at her for a moment, shocked to hear that from her sister. "You've had other things on your mind and I wanted to finish it myself."

Susan chuckled. "Ah."

Ranko joined her at the table. "Where's the little one?"

"With mom, getting her check up." At Ranko's frown, Susan sighed. "You'll never know hard it was to walk into that place. Even now."

"I can guess."

Susan tilted her head, evaluating her older sister with her eyes. "You knew I wasn't telling the full story. Back there, on the ship, when I got back from figuring out what the problem actually was. You knew, and didn't call me on it. Why?"

Ranko let silence hang between them for long minutes as she stood up and began to rummage through the cupboards, looking for a pan or two with which to start dinner. Finding what she was looking for, she placed them on the stove. She took a deep breath before turning back to Susan. "You said it solved itself. Did I need to probe further?"

"Not really."

"And so I trusted you. Was that trust misplaced?"

"No."

"Then you know the answer to your question." She paused, then tried unsuccessfully to stifle a chuckle. "And I still owe Tasha big time for neglecting to mention the teenager with the rifle, too."

Susan stared at her, hard. "What?"

"Never send a Time Guardian Healer into a rainstorm and forget to mention firearms. Especially when they're doing you a favor." Ranko shrugged. "Maybe I should introduce her to golf as an apology."

"You hate golf," Susan reminded her after a moment or two.

"After all we've been through, I'll take golf over talking to Lex again, only to have him forget the talk because of magical intervention by a Fairy Empress."

"Still upset about that, huh?"

"More than you'll ever know."

* * *

Weeks ago...

* * *

Down among the lost  
A woman waits  
Waits  
For the moment  
To arrive

Down among the lost  
no one looked  
or cared  
but she saw  
everything

Down among the lost  
Dancing shadows  
Dancing  
Familiar  
In the ally ways

Down among the lost  
and the homeless  
in the ally ways  
of Nar Shadda,  
she waited

Down among the lost  
Shadows of memory  
Of people long gone  
Dance  
On city streets

Down among the lost  
Time  
Had lost its meaning  
Long before

Down among the lost  
Days  
Turned into weeks  
Weeks  
Turned into months  
Months  
Turned into years  
And the years  
Passed

Down among the lost  
In relative safety  
She watched  
The comings  
And goings  
Waiting...

Down among the lost  
A great disturbance  
Came... and left again  
And her head came up,  
Taking note  
Of others in the alley  
No one else  
Had felt it  
Nor did they show  
Any signs

Down among the lost  
She feels it  
A call familiar  
The call of times past...

Down among the lost  
Familiar feeling  
From unknown source  
Everybody who knew  
How to sound  
That call...  
Dead  
...right?

Down among the lost  
It will not go ignored  
Not now  
And now here  
It will be answered  
now

Down among the lost  
Can stay no longer  
Going...  
To follow the call  
Where ever it may lead

Down among the lost  
Lost is found  
Memory is honored  
And survival...  
Has been assured

Down among the lost  
trash  
is left behind  
on a city street

* * *

That same week...

* * *

She stood before a hastily assembled panel of men she'd never had the pleasure of serving with as her second-in-command stated his case, wondering all the while why. It had all the markings of a military tribunal, but that couldn't be it, could it? They were at war. People did things in war!

Then something Kratas said caught her attention and she stared at him. What? There had been an Imperial Base on that planet? That made no sense! "No there wasn't."

Commander Kratas turned to look at her, frowned, turned back to the panel, and continued speaking without really missing a beat.

Later that day, Admiral Natasi Daala, former Commander of the Fleet at Maw Installation, was convicted of multiple war crimes, sentenced, and led to a jail cell within the Ord Trasi complex. Per the request of a very disgusted Commander Kratas, the Death Star Prototype would be dismantled permanently.

* * *

Now...

* * *

Ailee was putting a medical kit together when Cam came in and handed her something extra. She blinked at him for a long moment. "What is this?"

He sighed. "If the pregnant women are going, it's best to be prepared for anything," he said by way of explanation. "That will stop premature labor in it's tracks, but they'll have a nasty hangover afterward."

Ailee nodded and put it in the kit. "Thank you. Why aren't you going instead of me?"

He shuddered. "The mere thought of being in the same vicinity with that guy gives me the creeps."

"Ah." She paused, wondering... "Which guy?"

"The one Janson's wife keeps blaming herself for not killing when she had the chance."

"Oh... him. Don't worry about him. She knocked him on his butt the first time, she can do it again."

Cam blinked at her. "What?"

"The only reason he was alive to interrogate the first time around is because she pulled her punches and wasn't going for lethal force." She smiled at him as she closed the kit. "And thank you. Wouldn't have thought of that medication otherwise."

* * *

"So how do we get into the Deep Core Security Zone, anyway?" Han wondered as he laid in a course for Coruscant on the navigational computer. "It's not as if they're going to let us dance right in there."

Roganda grinned. "I've got codes. Didn't even realize what they were for when I was hacking into the palace computer system looking for other things."

"You spent way too much time in front of a computer terminal," he muttered. "Not that I'm ungrateful. I'm not."

* * *

Darvis was sitting at the Dejarik table reading the interrogation report intently while Mara inspected the weaponry they were taking along with a very thorough focus. "No wonder... this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, isn't it?"

Not really knowing what that phrase meant, she frowned at him. "I'm sorry?"

"This interrogation report. It's long and confusing and repeats itself a lot."

"A needle in a haystack?"

"Exactly like that." Then he paused and looked at her, realizing that she sounded more confused than was normal. "Oh. It's a saying about things that are hard to find that Ailee introduced me to... and Sacorria is agrarian, mostly. They have lots of sayings like that, for all kinds of situations."

Mara nodded slowly and returned to the inspecting of weapons. "You're not wrong. It's exactly like that."

* * *

They were half-way to Byss when Roganda's head came up and she stared at the nothingness of the molted sky of hyperspace. Across the distance, she felt it... a presence that wasn't only wrong, but impossible. Familiar, yes, but... very wrong. "That can't be."

"It isn't," Mara said from behind her. "At least, I don't think it is. That's impossible."

"Would you stop that?" Han complained suddenly from behind Mara, who turned to stare at him with wide eyes. "Then again... what is it?"

"Don't want to say," Mara told him tightly. Then her eyes went distant and she smiled. "But it's safe to say that Luke's as close to fine as we can hope for."

"Good."

* * *

On Sacorria, a woman stares again at an indicator on a large piece of equipment. The numbers are definitely better.

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and wishes those out there among the stars a good hunt.

It is all she can do.

* * *

She'd only been here on this Force-forsaken planet for an hour, but already she didn't like it. It didn't... feel right. Staring down at the aged and emaciated, familiar face, she gained a better understanding for why that could be...

"Who are you?"

Slowly, she turned to find the owner of that masculine voice standing just inside the door of the room, and at once knew he'd been the one whose call she'd heard. "Vima is here to help you."

He blinked, at once guarded and suspicious. "What?"

"Urgent call, heard from far away."

"You're here to help me?"

"Yes."

He slowly and hesitantly joined her at the bedside, motioned to the man on the bed. "Heal my master, then."

She shook her head gravely. "Not here for him. Dead already, though living appears to be. Here for you."

He was left at a loss and was thusly surprised when his master opened his eyes to glare at her with more menace than he'd ever seen from anyone. The awareness didn't last long, and soon the man was unconscious again, a sneered "Jedi" his only vocalization.

Vima reached down and took hold of his hand for a moment, head bowed. A tear escaped down a weathered cheek. "Go in peace, Chancellor. Allow us that kindness."

"Emperor," the man standing beside her corrected.

"Not to Vima," she told him. "Not to anyone. Not ever again." Then she removed her hand and slowly led him away from the body of his master. "See to you now, Vima will."

"But..."

"No."

"Why not? You can heal him, can't you?"

"Do nothing, sometimes is best thing." She tilted her head, looked at him with surprisingly clear eyes. He wondered where she'd been, that her appearance was so... ragged and worn. "If Force wants him back, Vima will deny it not." She studied his face for a moment before nodding to herself. "Young, you were. Very young."

"What does my being young have to do with anything?"

"Much." With one more shuddering glance toward the bed, she led him from the room.

* * *

Staring out at Byss, Roganda was surprised that there wasn't more on an in-system presence. "Weird." Then she shrugged her shoulders to try and relieve the pressure that had been building for more than an hour.

Han nodded. "Not much of a garrison, is it?"

"No. Think the Rogues will be disappointed?"

Han glanced at the sensor panel with a practiced eye. "Probably. There's two destroyers and a frigate, but they haven't so much as tried firing or sent a scout in our direction yet."

Presently, Leia joined them in the cockpit. "Mara said that Luke's awake and aware, if somewhat confused." She looked out at the glowing planet beyond the cockpit canopy. "That must be Byss."

Just then, Roganda flinched, moaned quietly, and started to rub her temples. "Ungh!"

Leia tore her attention away from the view to stare at Roganda. She'd felt something a moment ago, but what, she wasn't sure. "What's wrong?"

"Pressure... gone suddenly," Roganda slowly explained without looking up. "Just... gone. The whole way here from Coruscant, it was building. Relentlessly. And... just now, it left."

Han glanced at her. "You alright?"

"Will be by the time we land," Roganda assured him.

"You're sure?" When she glared at him, he smiled. "All right, then."

"Was it a bad kind of pressure?" Leia asked gently, as Han turned back and began coordinating the plan of attack with Wedge and the six other members of Rogue Squadron who had joined them for this mission.

"Yes," Roganda told her wryly. "Very bad."

Leia nodded and decided not to press the matter further.

* * *

Planetside, Luke had woken to an old woman in a Jedi Robe that had definitely seen better days... and Quest in binders. What followed up that strangeness was the explanation that Quest had actually kidnapped him because he'd needed to bring help back here to Byss. Help, apparently... for Palpatine. Which made no sense, because the Emperor had been dead for years. Except apparently he hadn't. But now he was, which... was still confusing. "Let me get this straight. You needed help?"

Quest sighed and looked away. "Yes."

"Then why didn't you just ask?"

The old woman, who strangely reminded him of Yoda when she talked, smiled at him. "The Initiate forgot how."

"I'm not an Initiate!" Quest muttered, now frustrated. "I haven't been an Initiate for twenty-seven years!"

"So you remember being one, then? Good, Vima thinks that is."

Luke stared first at her, then at Quest, then at Vima again. "Right. And the binders?"

"Saving his life, they will be. Trying to help evil return and get well, he was." She glared at Quest reproachfully. "Help, it needed not."

"I still don't understand what happened," Luke said slowly.

Quest sighed again. "Something went wrong with the clones. All of them. Months before Endor. They all got sick at the same time in their tanks and started to die one by one. Brain damage... the medic who was here at the time couldn't explain it."

"These were clones of Palpatine?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

The question caused Quest to blink at him in confusion, unsure of what he meant. Fortunately, Vima answered instead. "Tempted to cling to life, he was. No matter the danger or cost to everyone else, or to self."

Luke nodded slowly. That lined up with the one time he had met Palpatine. "Oh."

_Luke?_ a tendril of thought brushed at him, and he jumped, startled at how close Mara seemed.

Vima smiled at him. "Be answering her now."

Still confused, he sent a thought back. _Here, Mara._

A sense of relief flooded through the bond from her. _Finally. You were asleep a long time, Farmboy._

_I was?_

_Yes. You were._

Luke frowned at Quest. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Eight days."

Luke's frown deepened. Either Quest was wrong, or Mara was exaggerating... _It was eight days, right?_

_Funny how eight days can stretch into eight weeks, then. Stay where you are, we'll be down to collect you, shortly._

Not too long after that, Han, Leia, Mara, Roganda, Wedge, Darvis, Ailee, and Wes, armed to the teeth, clambered in with unnecessary noise and confusion, and Quest was arrested... again. It helped that he was already in binders.

* * *

As the Falcon ascended into the atmosphere of Byss, Luke stood against the hatchframe and held Mara to him tightly. He wanted a look at the planet before submitting himself to an exam, and presently he was distracted by Mara's presence in the Force. A fragment of a memory came back to him, of her saying she'd tell him later, and probing gently, he understood what she'd been hesitant to say. "We have to talk, don't we?"

She leaned deeper into his embrace, smiling. "Definitely."

"They take care of you while I was otherwise occupied?"

"They did," she whispered to him. "They did."

He shifted his gaze to Leia, who was sneaking glances back at them, and nodded his thanks to her. She nodded back, smiling all the while. Then they turned their attention to the view, and he blinked in wonder. It really did seem to glow from orbit.


	31. Chapter 31

Years ago...

* * *

It was the same every time. Chaos. Daylight. Weapons fire on formerly peaceful streets. Death. Senseless destruction. Loss.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it. It looped and twisted and repeated and goaded her into paying attention. Into reliving it as if each moment mattered more than the last. Dared her to speak up, to voice her doubts in the middle of every strategy session.

She didn't. Every time she tried or started to speak up, something made her doubt her own doubts. Surely, everyone had planned all they needed to plan... right? It wouldn't make a difference if she said something now. Or would it?

It was as if a universe of possibility existed between the moment that was certainty... and the one where she found her voice.

The images repeated in her mind's eye again and again, ending the same way every time: with a deeply personal loss that shook her to her core.

Staring at the map being projected on to the wall as her father pointed out the various vulnerable spots and a resistance cell member from Theed proper explained where the Imps were stationed throughout, she found herself drawn to a particular area of the map... what appeared to be a wide street a block or two away from Theed Palace.

"I'm going with you."

The words were out so quickly that she wasn't even sure she'd said them initially. Only the sudden silence and everyone in the room turning to stare at her in varying states of confusion told her that she had.

Her father regarded her for a very long moment before glancing at her mother in silent question. When her mother nodded ever so slightly, he turned back to her. "You're sure? It'll be brutal out there."

"Yes." She dared him with her eyes to ask why she wanted to go. He didn't.

He nodded. "All right."

The rest of the strategy session passed without incident.

* * *

Now...

* * *

Soon enough, they were safely in hyperspace and Han allowed himself to relax. Then he turned, took Leia's hand with a smile, and looked at Mara in expectation. "Well?"

Mara ignored him for a minute, savoring Luke's embrace as she looked past him and out of the viewport to the molted sky of hyperspace. Weeks of searching through databases and tracking down leads and finally listening to a medic who had stuffed animal phobia had led them here to this moment, the least she could do was enjoy it for what it was. Finally, she turned and looked up into Luke's eyes. "You are going to be a father."

Luke smiled. "Weren't we going to talk about it later?"

"And we will... but it was to you and only you that I wanted to say the words too first."

Han chuckled. "Much to the annoyance of the rest of us." Mara's eyes narrowed and suddenly something smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Mara..." Luke began, but a look quelled his protest.

Mara slowly turned to look at Han, who was now rubbing the back of his head. "I realize you were trying to make light of it, but that really was in poor taste."

Han nodded solemnly, at once reminded why one did not make a pregnant woman mad. Especially not a telekinetic one. "You're right. It was."

"Though the humor is appreciated."

Luke glanced at Leia, whom if he hadn't been force sensitive and also her twin brother, he wouldn't have known was laughing internally. "What did I miss?"

"Not much," Leia was able to say. "Other than a medic with stuffed animal phobia and Roganda kicking herself for weeks on end for certain actions not taken."

"And a planet getting blown up," Mara added.

Luke paused, not sure what to make of any of it. Roganda kicking herself made sense, but the other... "Which planet?"

"Dantooine," Han told him, then shook his head at the expression of confusion Luke directed at him. "I know. Didn't make any sense at the time, either."

"But I would..."

"Have felt that?" Mara finished for him with a wince as she did so.

"Exactly."

"Not if you were unconscious at the time from a concussion. Which you were."

"Oh."

* * *

Mara pushed Luke into the corridor before Han or Leia could say anything else and led him to the 'fresher, closing the door behind them as she did so. "Finally!"

"You didn't have to hit him on the head with telekinesis," Luke told her after a long silence.

"No, but it felt good."

"Leia could have done it."

Mara paused, taking in the fact that he wasn't telling her not to do that ever again. "Good point."

He studied her, noting the slight weight gain and just barely noticeable roundness of her abdomen under her clothes. If he hadn't known to look for it, he wouldn't have even noticed. "So..."

She shook her head. "Don't."

"Don't what?" Were they picking up on each other's thoughts like it was the first week of the bond all over again?

Mara took a deep breath and looked directly at him. "First... no. I'm not reading your mind. I just want to say something first and get it out of the way."

"Oh."

"I've had weeks to think about all of this. Us. You and me. Getting married. Having children. It's not as scary as it was when the bond first happened between us... and that's good. Right?"

He nodded slowly, wondering once more what had gone on while he'd been unconscious. "It is."

"And then there's Dark Star."

The sudden change in conversation made him frown. "What about her?"

Mara sighed and moved closer to him. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to walk in on your companion having just finished giving birth, when you had no idea she was pregnant to begin with?"

"Can't say that I do, no."

Now she took hold of his hand and guided it to her abdomen. Then she met his gaze squarely again, and suddenly, he was in the lounge area of her ship, kneeling beside her on his knees and watching Dark Star and her kittens. The realization she'd had slammed through him and he was left speechless in the aftermath.

"I wanted to tell you right there," Mara told him softly, intimately. "Right when I knew why I'd been so randomly ill every morning. Only..."

"You couldn't," Luke finished for her when he finally found his voice again, the reality of the Falcon's 'fresher unit sliding slowly back into place seamlessly around them.

"No. You were unreachable." The tinge of anger in her voice told him still more, filling in other missing pieces of the puzzle that was his fiancé.

He lifted her chin and their eyes met again. "Well I'm here now."

She smiled. "Yes. You are." Then she leaned up to kiss him. _You are._

Standing there in the 'fresher onboard the Millenium Falcon, two people reconnected... and a bond began to form with a still as yet unborn but growing child.


	32. Chapter 32

Mara leaned into him, enjoying the feeling of having him right here instead of out there in the ether somewhere at the edge of her perception. It was a luxury they'd not had in far too long, even before that one night they'd spent together in the middle of everything else. "Mmmm... you know, at some point we're going to have to rejoin the outside world."

"Does it have to be right now?" Luke asked.

"No. Just wanted to mention it." A minute later, she pushed away from him. "But I'd rather you did get an exam, what with the concussion you had."

"Wasn't my fault that Quest used an invisible wall."

"Probably not, but you're the one who ran into it."

Luke resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her as she pulled him from the 'fresher.

* * *

Ailee looked up from a piece of portable lab equipment as Mara led Luke into the hold and made him sit down. "Turns out, however weird it is, that you're both right."

Mara slowly turned and stared at the medic. "Right about what?"

"How much time has passed. For us, it's been two months. Not so for them." She motioned to the equipment in front of her, then pointed at Quest, sitting nearby and sleeping under the vigilant guard of Roganda, Vima, and Darvis. "There's residuals in his blood that should be gone by now."

Mara blinked in surprise. "You brought a blood analyzing machine on a rescue mission?"

Ailee smirked at her. "You brought a post-natal feline and her kittens. How is it different?"

Darvis chuckled. "It isn't, really."

"Residuals?" Vima asked out of curiosity.

Ailee glanced at the old woman, impatience flashing in her eyes momentarily. "Even though he wasn't consciously sedated, the medication, or remnants of it, rather, were still in his system. Especially with the kind of doses he was getting per Roganda's suggestion."

Vima's gaze shifted to Roganda. "Your suggestion?"

Roganda sighed. "He was part of a mission to kidnap children. And dangerous. Very. It was warranted at the time, and reinforced by the fact that he broke out and gave someone bruises consistent with choking and Force-Induced amnesia. And then he promptly kidnapped someone else." She shifted her gaze to Luke. "And you-"

"Stop," Ailee said abruptly, cutting Roganda off. "There is a time and a place. This isn't it."

"But-"

"Stop kicking yourself about it, all right? What's done is done." Ailee sighed and looked at Luke, who was watching them with curious interest. "You'll be needing to have a talk with your student, sir. She seems to think your getting kidnapped and drugged was her fault."

Mara shook her head. "Not so. Roganda, if anything, you're the reason it was discovered so quickly."

"Doesn't change anything."

"Vima knows this... feeling. Fault does not lay with you." She poked a hand at the still-sleeping Quest. "Fault is right here with this one. No more, no less."

Roganda stared at her, only just realizing how tattered the robe Vima was wearing really was. "Where did you come from, old woman?"

"Nar Shadda. Was lost for long time, until heard call." Vima glanced at Mara again, blinked in recognition. "You look like her."

Mara turned her attention to Vima while Ailee quietly gave Luke an exam. "Who?"

"A friend. Agricorps." Vima frowned for a long moment, as if she were reaching for knowledge long denied. "Widia. They were just... preparing to leave for assignment. Before. Not after. Before."

"Before what?"

Vima shook her head. "Not talk of that. Too painful."

A sound suddenly intruded, causing Mara to realize she'd forgotten something and she left the hold in a rush.

Luke frowned. "Where's she going?"

Ailee made him face her, and shined a penlight into his eyes alternatingly. "Doesn't matter... good. Pupils acting normally."

Mara returned momentarily with the pet carrier and set it down with a grunt, and rolled her eyes at Ailee's mild glare. "I know. I shouldn't have done that."

"Then don't do it again, or it'll be you getting an exam and answering more questions than you ever thought you would be asked by a doctor." Ailee decided to do one last thing, and drew a blood sample for comparison. Once that was done, she began packing up the equipment she'd gotten out. "He's fine. Better than fine for someone who has recently suffered two concussions, internal bleeding, and news of impending parenthood, in fact." She nodded to the pet carrier. "Feel free to let them out, Mara. They've been cooped up a while."

Luke was about to ask about the stray datapad on the dejarik table when Mara opened the door of the carrier and six kittens bounded out, Dark Star behind them. One ran straight for Roganda, another for Ailee, and he had to blink in surprise when a third climbed into a still-sleeping Quest's lap and curled up, making itself right at home. The rest of the kittens joined Mara as she sat next to him, while Dark Star started nuzzling his knee. "Why is Quest asleep?"

"Sedated, actually," Ailee told him as she patiently batted away the kitten's attempts to distract her. "It was that, or let him antagonize Roganda to the point of her wanting to kill him all over again. Besides, he needed to sleep off the rest of the drug cocktail. I wasn't kidding about those residuals." She glanced at Quest, smirked. "Doesn't seem near as threatening now, though."

"Isn't," Vima put in. "Not now."

"Well, of course not now, lady." Ailee looked at Vima with a practiced medical eye. "How long since you last saw a medical professional, anyway?"

"Not since before."

"In linear time?"

Vima had to think about it, and her gaze settled on Luke. "Before."

Ailee frowned and looked from her, to Luke, and back again. Then her eyes widened. "Oh! When you say before... you mean it. Before he was born."

"Yes. Before. Keeping track of time, impossible where Vima was. Was lost. Long, long time."

Roganda sighed suddenly. "Since before the purges? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

Luke, in an effort to change the conversation and turn the attention away from Vima, motioned to the datapad. "What's on that?"

Mara chuckled. "That's the interrogation report." She looked at Roganda, glanced at Ailee. "Seems you both have been adopted. That's the second time they've both done that."

Just then, Leia came into the hold, looked around, and stared at the sight of a kitten on a sleeping Sarcev Quest's lap. "What in the world...?"

Mara jumped, startled, when one of the kittens in her lap suddenly jumped down and made a beeline for Leia. Then she chuckled. "Guess that answers the question of what to do with 'em when they're old enough."

Leia blinked down at the kitten nuzzling her foot, then glared at Mara. "What if I don't want one?"

"Seems to want you," Mara told her serenely.

Leia sighed and bent to scoop up the kitten, picked it up, and looked it in the eyes. Then she smiled. "Maybe."

"Maybe what?" Han asked from behind her. Then he saw what she was holding. "Oh."

"Think it would be good for the twins to have a pet around the house?" Leia wondered uncertainly.

Han glanced from the kitten, to Mara holding a kitten while Dark Star pawed at Luke's leg for attention, to the one in Roganda's lap, to another keeping Quest company for some reason, to yet another one batting at Ailee's hands while she put things away, and finally back to Leia. "Sure."

Leia smiled and handed the kitten to him. "Then meet AT-AV the Second." She glanced at Mara. "If that's okay."

"Of course it is."

Finally done putting things away, Ailee turned her full attention to her kitten in exasperation. "Ploppy." Silence, save for the ever-present hum of the engines reigned as everyone turned to stare at her. She blinked and looked at Darvis, who was smirking at her in amusement. "What? Little thing likes to plop itself in the middle of everything!"

Darvis nodded. "Ploppy the Kitten makes a whole lot more sense than Ploppy the Imperial Shuttle did, doesn't it?"

"Oh yes!" She took in the fact that everyone else was staring at them. "Long story."

"Her sister-in-law had a flashback to something funny while on recon," Darvis put in, causing Ailee to glare at him.

"Or not."

Roganda laughed at that explanation. "Makes sense." She scratched the kitten in her lap on the head, smiled wistfully. "Stringy."

Han frowned, recognizing the reference from stories told during the long trip to Hoth. "You're naming it after a prank that Janson played on you?"

"Of course." She winked at him. "And won't be surprised when we get back to base, hmmm?"

Luke looked at Leia as he finally lifted Dark Star into his lap. "Where are the twins?"

"With Winter on New Alderaan," Leia answered as she gracefully accepted the kitten back from Han. Mara turned to stare at Leia, as if suddenly realizing she'd missed something, and Leia sighed. "You've had a lot on your mind, Mara."

"But to just forget them-"

"Including Dantooine."

Mara paused. "Good point." She saw Luke's curious expression. "Don't ask. It was bad enough without having to explain again, and I'm glad you missed it."

Luke gazed at Mara, and accepted what she wasn't saying, and decided to change the subject. "So what else happened?"

"We re-took Coruscant," Han told him.

Mara frowned. "Then why were we still at Pinnacle Base?"

"Happened this week."

"Ah, so that's why we only had half of Rogue Squadron for this. Makes sense now."

Luke stared at both of them, dumbfounded. "It was just the Falcon and half a squadron?"

"You're here and not a prisoner, Luke. Don't complain."

"I'm not. Just amazed."

Roganda chuckled. "Going by what we saw on the way in, though, it might have been overkill."

"Is good," Vima spoke up, surprising them. "Good to be prepared."

Roganda glanced at the old woman, who was staring at her with surprisingly clear eyes. "Well, yes, but..."

"No butts."

* * *

Mara helped Ailee lead the old woman to a bed in the medical area on Pinnacle Base and then stepped back as Ailee convinced her to sit down. Then Ailee stood back and shook her head in dissatisfaction. "That won't do."

Vima stared up at her. "What won't?"

"Your robe is filthy. Mara, over in the bins, there are gowns. Could you find one for her, please?"

Mara nodded and went to find one. Finding one on the forth try, as there weren't just gowns in the bins, she returned and handed it to Ailee, who helped Vima put it on. The robe she'd been wearing, what was left of it, was set aside. Mara picked it up, glanced at Vima. "It's..."

"Don't," Vima told her, eyes flashing shrewdly. "Was home in plain sight."

Nodding, Mara set it down again. "Makes sense."

"Also dirty. Tattered."

Ailee snorted in laughter, causing them both to look at her. "What? Her sense of humor is definitely intact!" She nodded to Mara. "Go find your boyfriend, or whatever he is to you, Mara. We'll be fine."

"But I wanted to hear more about the person she says I look like."

"After she's gotten some medical care, you can do just that. For now... off with you! Shoo!" She watched Mara go reluctantly, and then spied Cam watching her curiously. "And you, get over here."

"What?"

Ailee glanced down at Vima. "It seems you need to have a talk with him about Force-Induced amnesia, Madame Jedi."

"Vima does?"

"Oh yes. Vima does." With that, Ailee stepped back and motioned to her patient. "Your patient, Medic. Hasn't had any kind of medical care in at least 18 years. What do you suggest?"

Cam stared at her. "You want me to-"

"Treat this patient. Think you can do that?"

"Yes," Cam replied and set right to it. From the door, Tamblyn watched with a smile, grateful that Ailee had pressed him into service like a first year medical intern.

* * *

Safely esconded on the bed in their now-shared quarters on Pinnacle Base, Mara chouldn't stop herself from running her fingers through his short and damp hair. She was starting to understand why he'd done something like this months previous before passing out again from exhaustion.

"Having fun?" His tone carried amusement that made her smile.

Mara nodded. "Enjoying something normal. Just you, me..."

"Dark Star, her kittens..."

She glanced over to where a make-shift bed had been set up in the corner of the room, then sat up slightly and looked at him. "There's something we haven't discussed yet."

"Oh?"

"The wedding."

Luke blinked at her in surprise. "The wedding?"

"You proposed, remember?"

"Well, yes, but I sort of figured we'd hold off until you were ready. Really ready."

Mara smiled and ran a finger along his jaw. "The concern is appreciated, but I'm fine now. And I think it's long past time." A sudden sensation caused her smile to widen, and she led his hand to her abdomen. "And the baby seems to agree. She moved." Mara watched his face light up when the baby kicked again.

* * *

To: stitches nrimed .mil .gov  
From: barkeep artistniche . dorthustal .org  
Subject: very odd request

Ailee, for some reason that makes no sense to me, Rala wishes to convey her deepest apologies but refuses to tell me why or what for. You may want to ask her at some point as I suspect it might have to do with equipment in her basement, which Glowbug said in passing might be something called a resonance alignment stabilizer, whatever that is. As for what the Glowbug might have been doing in Rala's basement... we had dinner over there last week.

-Drev

To: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
From: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
Subject: The thing in your basement.

Rala, what the nine hells is a Resonance Alignment Stabilizer?

-Ailee

To: stitches nrimed .mil. gov  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: Re: that thing in your basement. (grr...)

First: who told you so I can properly chew them out for not minding their own business?  
Second: Doesn't matter what it is, Ailee. Just know that I'm sick of babysitting it, it's taking up space I could use for other things, and... I don't have an and! I want an and!  
Third... how are things out there? I'm so bored, I'd actually play Golf with my team leader.

-Rala

To: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
From: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
Subject: RE: RE: that thing in your basement

Drev told me, as apparently Taloh had a flash of recall due to being in your basement when they were at your house for dinner. So... chew him out, and then hug her for remembered things. (I knew I should have given her a check-up in regard to her amnesia when I was home very briefly. She distracted me with caf!)

As for how things are here... well, I wish I was bored, actually. And I finally figured out what that painting was that Taloh drew but none of us knew what it was. It's a hyperlane map of the deep core. Really. Have participated in rescue mission for Jedi Knight who was kidnapped... don't ask. We're still confused about how he was unconscious from a concussion for eight days that was also eight weeks.

And... what is golf?

To: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: that thing in your basement

Hmmm... maybe I should tell Ranko to shanghai you for a Golf outing. A doctor who has never heard of the game of golf before? She'll love that!

And I can explain the time confusion, as both are correct. Eight days for him was eight weeks for you. As for why I know that... you asked what the thing in the basement is, and really, I shouldn't have to explain why I've got something that calms down spatial temporal anomalies in my basement, as you were there for part of it and the Garrison was on alert for a month straight. Like I said: very tired of babysitting the thing.

It's a... oh my God! Tell me you're joking about the hyperlane map, Ailee. Please, for the love of all things living, tell me you're joking. (And why didn't I realize what it was when I saw it?! Have to go look at that thing again...)

To: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
From: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: that thing in your basement

It really, honestly and truly, is both?! Somehow... that makes perfect sense. Thank you.

Um... why do you want me to tell you I'm joking? I'm not. Rala, you're not making any sense.

To: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: that thing in your basement

Because if you're not joking, then I know how she painted a hyperlane map when she'd never seen one before... ever. And if I'm right, two people I know who both wear gray on a regular basis are going to get lectures on why one does not mess with temporal mechanics and endanger everyone's lives unnecessarily.

* * *

On Pinnacle base, Ailee looked up from her computer terminal in the quarters she shared with Darvis with a very confused expression on her face. "Temporal Mechanics?"

* * *

It was a sedate ceremony held in the largest room on the base, attended by whoever hadn't left yet for Coruscant, decorated with what was handy (which hadn't been much), and officiated by Han, as he was still a General, though a retired one, and had insisted he be the one to do the honors when Mara had declared she was done waiting the day before.

Now, as Mara stood at the make-shift altar in the best clothes she'd had along on her own ship, which had been a green tunic and matching pants, being led through her vows and listening as Luke was led through his, she decided she wouldn't have had it any other way. Either way, they were still married, no matter where it was, or who officiated, or what she wore.

"And now," Han intoned, an almost-teasing tone in his voice. "If anyone can think of any reason why these two should not be wed, speak up." Silence greeted him, and he grinned at Luke. "Then you're free to kiss your bride, Kid."

Mara beat him to it.

* * *

To: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: I was right!

...and apparently, also somewhat wrong and now it's funny. Reason I was upset? I thought they intentionally broke a non-interference directive, but that turns out not to be the case. Also, something weird happened elsewhere and now I think I appreciate being bored just a little more. Ack.

To: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
From: stitches nrimed. mil. org  
Subject: your being right and wrong...?

I'm still wondering about your "temporal mechanics" or what ever it was you meant. So things are okay?

To: stitches nrimed. mil. org  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: wrong, right... upside down and pear-shaped...

Relatively, sure. A friend is going to sedate his manic wife, and something weird happened that made her manic, and Dawn reminded me of a few things...  
What's one easily miss-able painting in the grand scheme of things? And no, you don't want to ask. I'm confused enough now and don't want to explain it. Ever.

And the next golf game is on me. We'll be interdimensionally hi-jacking you at some point for an afternoon spent outdoors, whacking little white balls with sticks up a fairway. It'll be fun.

As for the temporal mechanics lecture... they could have gotten you all crushed by gravitic sheer in the deep core, Ailee. Not that they knew that, of course.

To: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
From: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
Subject: RE: wrong, right... upside down and pear-shaped...

Um... right. I'll just pretend all of that made sense. Wait a minute. Did you just say "crushed"?

To: stitches nrimed. mil. gov  
From: blackwave artistniche. dorthustal. org  
Subject: RE: RE: wrong, right... upside down and pear-shaped...

Yes. I said "crushed." As in "coming out of hyperspace transit you could have been." Be glad the problem was reduced to "slight time disturbance." And, if you think that's a joke, think again. It's really, really not.

* * *

Leia smiled as AT-AV the 2nd purred in her lap. "You're sure it's okay for them to be away from their mother now?"

Mara nodded. "They're three months old, and the datapad that Aves gave me on pet care said it was okay as soon as they were weaned. And they are, now."

"Hmmm..." Leia glanced at her. "All right. So you're really going to Naboo for your honeymoon?"

"Less a honeymoon, more a fact-finding mission, but yes."

* * *

Mara raised her hand and hesitated, then looked back at Luke. "I'm not sure I can do this to them."

"Do what?"

"Walk back into their lives like this."

Before Luke could form a convincing reply, the door opened and an older woman with graying red hair nearly walked into them. She blinked, startled. "Oh. Hello. Can I help you?" She studied Mara's equally startled face, blinked again, and stepped aside to allow them entry. "Please. Come in."

Mara stared at her. "What?"

"A story you have to tell, yes?"

Mara nodded slowly and wondered for a moment why Luke was chuckling internally at such a simple question. "Yes."

"Then come in. I can definitely wait to do my shopping another time. Tomorrow, even."

Luke nudged Mara's shoulder. _Open invitation, Mara._

She felt like glaring at him, but decided to accept the pointed request.

* * *

Temaru was making himself a sandwich at the kitchen counter when he heard footsteps. "Back so soon?" He glanced up to see his wife leading two people into the kitchen and motioning them sit at the table. "Uh... Widia?"

"Found these two at the front door," Widia replied. "Seems they have a story to tell. Probably about why she resembles Renna and Jaelle so much."

The woman stared at her. "Excuse me?"

Widia smiled. "Well, you do." Then her eyes widened slightly. "How far along are you? And isn't that an awkward question to ask before you've so much as told me your name?"

The woman blinked, glanced downward, then looked at the man beside her. "Is it that obvious, Farmboy?"

"Getting more so by the week," the man responded with a smile.

The woman rolled her eyes at him before looking at Widia again. "It's Mara, and... I think this is week twenty-seven." She motioned to the chairs. "Can we sit?"

Widia nodded. "Please." She turned and looked at him. "Join us?"

Temaru nodded, finished making his sandwich, and joined them at the table. He was getting curious now... and the latent nudging from the Force piqued his interest.

Before anything else could be said, Mara pulled a small packet of something out of her pocket and laid it on the table. "This is why we're here." She glared at the man for a moment before sighing. "All right, so it's what pointed me in the right direction. Same thing."

"Better," the man told her. "Because, before that, you were coming down with all sorts of symptoms, including sneezing at floral arrangements." He flinched when she apparently kicked him under the table.

Widia frowned and picked up the packet to examine it. "Oh. The first aid powder we were sent here to work on with the Naboo for the war effort."

"War effort?" the man asked.

"Yes. The clone wars. You might have heard of it, Mister..."

"Skywalker," the man told her. "Luke."

At the name, Temaru suddenly realized why he seemed so familiar. He'd met Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker once during his time at the temple, in passing, as Agricorps usually kept to it's own issues. "What does the powder have to do with your being here in our kitchen?"

Mara looked straight at him, smiled wryly. "Smelling it caused me to remember both of you." She glanced downward, then looked at Widia. "And I am certain now that the memory I had of you before that wasn't actually a memory. My name is Mara now, but... was it Marani, before?"

They both stared at her for long moments before Widia nodded slowly. "It was."

"Widia!" Temaru admonished.

"What?"

"How do you...?"

"Renna and Jaelle. She resembles them. Or, rather... they look like her, and I do not believe in coincidences." Widia smiled. "And don't you feel it?"

He did, but there were still uncertainties...

* * *

In the dark of night on the other side of Naboo, a woman is rudely woken from an uneasy sleep by an insistent beeping noise. With her free hand, she reaches the few inches to the ground beside her cot, finds her comm device, and answers with a grunt. "Little brother, it's too early for pranks of any kind."

A distinctly feminine laugh sounds in the darkness of the tent. "This isn't a prank, little sister."

"Oh. Hi. Good. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"In a minute or so. Has he been calling you in the wee hours of the morning?"

"Only when he forgets the time difference. How can I help you, big sister?"

"When you wake up again in a few hours, a shuttle bound for Theed is leaving from your encampment on a supply run. I want you on it. Come home."

She frowned. Now that was a very odd request... "Any particular reason?"

"It's a surprise." And, the unstated message underneath that one implied, not to be spoken of on an open comm line.

"Good surprise?"

"More or less. See you when you get here."

The comm ended with an audible click and she stared at the device in the darkness. What was that supposed to mean? More or less? Which was better? The more or the less?

Slowly, she became aware of her husband's even breathing again and let him lull her back to sleep. What would come, would come, and that was hours from now. It'd keep.

TBC...


End file.
